A Horrible Twist of Fate
by magicalmissnu
Summary: What if the unthinkable happened? What if your whole world had been brutally slaughtered, only to be rescued after all hope is lost? What if the wolves had never saved Bella in the meadow? Edward Cullen is about to find out! Rated T for language.
1. Heartbroken

**Okay, this is my first fanfic. Please tell me what you think!**

**Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. It's all Stephanie Meyer's genius idea, and I don't own any part of it.**

**Summary**: What if the wolves had been too late to save Bella? What would have happened to Edward when he came back to Forks? Takes place from Edward's POV around the time Bella would have gone to Italy to rescue Edward. Rated T for language.

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It was a cool and breezy morning in April. The sun wasn't even up yet. Then again, that's not such a big deal to a vampire. My mind was elsewhere. For the past seven months, I had forced myself to live without my Bella. It was for her best interests, but that didn't mean I didn't still miss her. She deserved to have a normal life. She deserved to have a life that wasn't constantly put in peril by her associations with vampires. I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if we hadn't found her in time last year. If James had....I shuddered again. No, I wouldn't think of that. She was saved, and now she was living her life free of the dangers that had plagued her because of me.

Still, I was being selfish. I had finally given in to my unruly desire to be with her. I had held on for as long as I could, but the pull was eventually too strong. I couldn't stand to be away from her anymore. I had given up on trying to make it through every day, every hour, every minute without stroking her hair, holding her close, kissing her. It all became too much. Now, vampire speed couldn't get me to her fast enough. The airplane I had taken from Rio to Seattle couldn't get me here fast enough. Every second without her seemed like a long and lonely eternity.

As soon as I got to her, I knew just what I was going to do. I was looking foreward to once again watching her while she slept. I would gently stroke her hair and whisper "I love you". I would soon be sitting by her bed once again, listening to her sleepy mumblings and trying to guess what she was dreaming. As soon as she woke up, I would beg for forgiveness. I couldn't stop seeing the image in my head of that last time I'd told her goodbye.

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Flashback:  
_She had looked so hurt and upset. Though I didn't show it, the hurt on her face had created an enormous cloud of pain, worry, and guilt over my head. I had done this to her. I had caused her so much pain and torment! Later that night, I was in the airport at Seattle, waiting for a flight that wouldn't come for another two hours. A few of the overhead televisions were broadcasting the local news. Although the volume was turned all the way down, I could still hear it as clearly as if it had been playing at normal volume. "In other news, a local teenager has gone missing tonight. Eighteen-year-old Isabella Swan was last seen leaving Forks High School around 3:30 pm. She left a note saying she was taking a walk with 17-year-old Edward Cullen." My school picture flashed up on the screen. Several people stared at the picture, then at me. They couldn't hear the broadcast, but they could certainly see the 1-800-THE-LOST number posted on the bottom of the screen. They stared at me suspiciously, not quite knowing if I was the missing person or the kidnapper. Either way, I wasn't going to be making that flight. Then Bella's picture flashed across the screen with her information. Brown hair, brown eyes, five-foot-three, last seen with the heartless douchebag that was me. Now all eyes were on me, and every person in the airport lounge thought I was a kidnapper. I got up and walked out. One man shouted "Hey! You! Get back here! Where is she? Where is that girl?" I ignored him. He wasn't a guard. "Guards!" he shouted. "Guards! Come quick!" Security came over. "That man's a kinapper!", the man yelled. "He's getting away!". By that point, I was out the door. I had bolted at vampire speed as soon as I was around the corner and out of sight. So much for flying._

_I ran the whole way back to Forks through the rain. I had just gotten within about four miles of Bella's house when I heard Charlie's thoughts. All of Billy and Jacob's friends had joined in the search. Though Charlie didn't know it, many of the people searching for her were werewolves. If they caught sight of me, the treaty would be broken. They would assume I had harmed her in some way and the treaty would be meaningless. I raced through the forest anyway. I needed to be sure she was all right. I could keep out of sight of the werewolves. With my vampire hearing and my vampire sense of smell, I could tell if one of them was near long before they spotted me. All the while, I kept my ears open for her voice. A few times, I heard someone's TV or a police radio reporting that she still had not been found. _

_It was around 2:30 in the morning that I heard her. It almost sounded as if she were talking in her sleep, except for the fact that it was completly void of all emotion. "He's gone.", she kept saying, "he's gone." At that same moment, I heard another voice shout her name. Shit! I had forgotten all about keeping a nose out for the dogs. I had simply been thinking about Bella. I could see her through the dog's eyes. It horrified me to see what she had become in just twelve hours. Seeing her there on the ground, I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms, kiss her over and over, and tell her I would never leave her again. I never wanted to leave her in the first place. I would have, if it weren't for the fact that_ I_ was the one who caused this. I felt sick to my stomach. To see my love in such pain, it wrenched me apart like nothing else. I was the monster that had caused all this. I was the asshole who had basically torn her heart out and threw it on the ground. Much as I wanted, no, needed to stay, comfort her, to kiss her, to hold her, to make every terrible ounce of her pain go away, my reappearing would only hurt her more. If I stayed with her, I would attract more danger towards her. She had to have a chance to live a normal life, one where her existance wasn't constantly threatened by her associations with vampires. I had to give her a chance. After making sure she arrived home safely, I reluctantly turned and left._

I knew I was being selfish by coming back. Bella deserved the chance to live her life free of monsters like me, free of the nightmares her associations with me had put her through. Yet, I couldn't stay away. I couldn't stand to be away from the one I loved so much. I wanted to kiss her, stroke her hair, hear her voice, smell that sweet scent, and hold the love of my life in my arms. I wanted to talk to her and to be with her. If she could ever find it in her heart to love me again, it would be the happiest moment of my life. After what I did to her, leaving her like that, I wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to see me again. I would deserve that. Still, it would be torture for me not to see her. Perhaps I deserved torture after what I'd done to her. I still couldn't get the image out of my head, her lying on the ground that night, looking as if her soul had been drained out of her. Thinking about that brought up that final conversation we'd had. "I don't care, Edward. I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you - it's yours already!" Those words sent shivers down my spine.

I came to the edge of a meadow. Our meadow. Staring out across this beautiful circle of land brought back memories of our time here together. Perhaps I would bring Bella back here with me one day, if she wanted to go with me. We could spend another day just like that one, just lying here in the grass. Just me and Bella, no one else. Suddenly, I caught the most beautiful scent in the world. Bella. My memories had not done it justice. Her sweet scent, smelling like a mixture of fresh flowers, campfires, and ocean air filled my nose. She was nearby. I was excited, but I was curious too. Why was she here? Had she spent the night out here? Had she been here today? Did Alice see me coming back and tip her off? I wouldn't put it past her to do that. Alice had been pretty annoyed at me for telling her not to go spying on Bella. She had probably been keeping a close watch for the exact moment that I decided I couldn't take it anymore. Alice had probably been witing to alert Bella since the moment I said goodbye. That was probably the most likely explanation for Bella's being here. Despite the fact that I had told Alice a million times not to do just that, I couldn't bring myself to be mad at her. It only meant I got to see my love that much sooner.

After a split second, I realized that something was very wrong. Bella's sweet scent was mingled with something that sent me into a panic. Decay. Mingled with the campfire-and-floral-ocean-breeze scent, there was the smell of a decaying dead body. NO! It couldn't be her! She was probably standing right next to a dead rat or something. Maybe a dead deer. It couldn't be her! Panicked, I raced towards the source of her beautiful scent. It could be a dead rabbit of a dead bird that she was standing next to. I followed it to the far edge of the meadow. It wasn't until I saw a grave there that I had to face the horrible truth.

Isabella Marie Swan

September 13, 1988 - March 10, 2006

Your murder will be avenged.

We will never forget you.

I don't know how long I sat there, staring in horror. _Murder_? She was murdered? She was gone? I could smell the decaying body beneath the ground, mingled with the scent of my beloved Bella. She was there, all right. It was true. She was gone. My sweet angel was now buried in a box below the ground, crumbling to ashes. And there was nothing I could do about it. Closing my eyes, I laid down and ran my hand along the ground where I could feel the edge of the casket under the earth. My hand ran back and forth along the grassy mound where the soil was displaced from the casket underneath it, thinking of ways I could join my sweet love. I considered provoking the Volturi, but something inside of me wanted to never leave this meadow again. Not unless she could. Seeing as how that wasn't possible, I thought of other options. I could build a bonfire around myself and wait for the flames to reach me. My other hand reached into my pocket. I felt what I had been looking for. A small Zippo lighter. It was only then that I heard someone's thoughts nearby.

_I smell a vamp._

It was one of the Quileute wolves. Other members of the pack soon joined in.

_Maybe it's that leech that killed Bella!_

_Damn parasite!_

_Let's get him! We can't let that bastard get away with that!_

I lay there, quietly stroking the ground. If they wanted to kill me, they could go right on ahead. Without my Bella, there was nothing to live for. If they hadn't avenged her killer yet, though, then that was something that needed to be resolved, and _fast_. When I meet my love on the other side, I want to tell be able to tell her that the son-of-a-bitch that killed her is in hell where he belongs. Then again, I was probably going to end up in hell too. Perhaps I'd be able to look up and see my love floating around in heaven somewhere from time to time. It was then that an image came to one of the wolves' minds. In my mind's eye, I could see trees all around. I could see a wolf sniffing around what used to be our house. I was seeing one of the wolves' memories.

_There's a vamp around here. I can smell it._

_It's probably one of those Cullens. You know we can't attack them._

_Don't you know anything, man? The Cullens left months ago._

_One of them could have come back. I'm telling you, I smell a leech._

_All right, we'll go check it out. It's probably nothing, though._

All I could see in my mind's eye were memory switched from one wolf to another. This one appeared to be sniffing around where Bella's car was. I could hear voices, though. Laurent. What was Laurent doing there? Wasn't he supposed to be with Tanya and her coven in Alaska? Wasn't he supposed to be learning how to live off animals instead of people?

"Well, you've caught me at a bad time, Bella." Laurent told her. "I didn't come to this place on Victoria's mission - I was hunting. I'm quite thirsty, and you do smell ...simply mouthwatering."

I felt a growl escape my throat. My eyes burned with the tears I could not cry. My throat swelled and my stomach twisted into a knot. These...these _dogs_ heard her being murdered! I could see them running, but they were still miles away. Then, I heard my beautiful angel's voice.

"He'll know it was you." Bella warned. "You won't get away with this."

No, he sure as hell won't. _I_ was going to make sure of that. My one purpose to live now was to avenge the death of my beloved angel. Through my swollen throat, I softly hummed her lullaby. I know how much she loved it.

"And why not?" Laurent's voice asked. "The scent will wash away with the next rain. No one will find your body - you'll simply go missing, like so many, many other humans. There's no reason for Edward to think of me, if he cares enough to invesigate. This is nothing personal, let me assure you. Just thirst."

If he cares enough to investigate? IF HE CARES ENOUGH TO INVESTIGATE??? Why the hell would he think I wouldn't care enough to investigate? My eyes stung furiously. Though I could not cry, It was impossible to just lay there listening to this. My throat swelled even tighter. Breathing was now impossible. It was too bad I didn't need to breathe. My stomach was turning in sickening knots. The word 'missing' triggered images in my mind of that night I left her. Seeing her lying on the ground with that empty stare, hurt horribly by what I had just done to her, it tore me apart even more. I could see now that I've made a horrible mistake. One she'd never be alive to forgive or hate me for. I needed to hold her, to comfort her. Yet, she was now six feet under the ground and unable to be helped.

"Please," I heard her beg. I wanted to stand in front of her, hold her, protect her, get her out of there, SOMETHING! How could I be expected to just listen to Bella die like this? It was all my fault! I should have been there! I should have been able to protect her. I should have been able to tell Laurent that if he so much as took another step towards my Bella, I would tear him limb from limb and burn the pieces. I would have been able to read his thoughts from miles away and known he was up to no good. Bella and I could have always come back another day, when it was safer. Thinking about what could have been made me even sicker. It was all my fault.

"Look at it this way, Bella." Laurent's voice continued. "You're very lucky I was the one to find you."

"Am I?" Bella asked. Her voice was very quiet, barely even a whisper. Her voice burned through me like a blazing inferno, inflicting more pain than I ever could have imagined.

"Yes, I'll be very quick." Laurent told her. "You won't feel a thing, I promise." He acted as if he was being merciful by killing her."Oh, I'll lie to Victoria about that later, naturally, just to placate her. But if you knew what she had planned for you, Bella, I swear you'd be thanking me for this." Just when I thought I couldn't feel any sicker. I'd left her alone to deal with this. Victoria was after her for revenge, Laurent was running wild and hunting humans again, and I had just left Bella to deal with this all by herself. I was a monster. No, I was worse than a monster. I belonged in hell. "Mouthwatering." Laurent repeated. I was a monster for making her deal with this on her own. The last words I heard were barely a whisper. They didn't even seem to be intended to be spoken aloud. Still, I heard them.

"Edward, I love you."

These words ripped through me like nothing else. She still loved me. After all that. She died loving me. I didn't deserve it. After leaving her alone to deal with that, after causing her so much pain, I didn't deserve for her to love me. I didn't deserve to be loved by such a sweet, beautiful, kind, selfless, and brave person. I pressed my face into the earth right above where her beautiful face was decaying away. "I love you too, Bella." I whispered into the ground. "I love you so much. I swear I'm going to avenge your murder, and then I'm going to join you. I love you more than life itself, and I never stopped loving you." My voice was breaking. "I never will stop loving you, either."

A scream sounded through the air. Within seconds, the scream became and odd gurgling sound. A short, abrupt gasp echoed through the air, quickly followed by a soft thud. The trees began to thin, and soon the meadow came into view. The wolves arrived to find a drained Bella lying unnaturally still in the grass. Her face was chalk-white, and frozen into a mask of sheer terror. They were too late.

I couldn't stand it any more.

The wolves arrived in the meadow, ready to kill the bastard that did this to my sweet Bella. Instead, they found me, lying on the grass next to her grave. My hand was still smoothly rubbing up and down the edge of where the casket displaced the ground, as if to comfort her when she could no longer be comforted. Dry sobs escaped my throat in short gasps. My eyes were still stinging and burning, unable to cry for my beautiful love.

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**So, what do you guys think? Should I write more or should I leave it a oneshot? I could have him go on a quest to avenge Bella or I can have him be killed by the wolves. I could also leave it as is. It's up to you. Please review! This is my first fanfic. Thank you!**

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	2. Onward to Vengeance

Chapter 2: Onward to Vengeance.

**Disclaimer**: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. I do not own any part of it. I'm just fanficcing because I read these stories and come up with a million little "what ifs" in my head that I wanted to share with people. No copyright infringement is intended.

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It was too much. It was all too much. The image of my love lying cold and dead on the ground with a look of terror forever etched onto her face was just to much for me to bear. I don't know how long I stayed there on the ground next to her grave. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours, or days. I didn't know and I really didn't care. After what seemed like an eternity, I began to wonder why the wolves hadn't killed me yet.

"I'm sorry, Bella.", I whispered, "I'm so sorry." Sorry wasn't going to cover it. Nothing I could ever do would make this right again.

As soon as I had spoken, one of them realized that I wasn't Laurent. _He doesn't have that annoying French accent_ was the exact thought. They got to the clearing and just stared at me for the longest time. Again, I don't know if it was seconds, minutes, or days. They all just stood there, watching me. A mixed range of emotions ran through the pack. Some of the wolves felt sorry for me. They were reminded of how upset they were when they had found her. It was nothing compared to the torment I was feeling now. Others were smirking. They blamed "my kind" for her death. To them, seeing a vampire in as much pain as I was in now was payback, at least in some small respect. Some of the wolves thought I was somehow personally responsible for Bella's death, and that she would be perfectly alive and well right now were it not for me, even If I hadn't been the one who bit her.

How completely and utterly right they were. It was my fault. It was all my fault. I left Bella alone to deal with this stuff. With Victoria and Laurent out hunting her, I just left her alone. I tore her heart out, threw it on the ground, and left her in the care of wolves. She deserved so much better than me as a boyfriend. She deserved so much better than a cold-hearted monster. What stung even more was the fact that if she were alive right now, she would be trying to convince me that I _wasn't_ a monster, that I was too sweet to be a monster. I knew it wasn't true. I was as cold-hearted as they came for allowing this to happen to her. If I hadn't left her, I would have been with her when she came here. Her last words rang through my ears, confirming how much of a monster I really was. "Edward, I love you." I tore me apart. I loved her, too. I loved her more than anything. Now, though, I could never tell her this.

"I hope you're happy, you sick bastard!" one of the Quileute boys yelled. I hadn't realized that some of them had turned back into a human. I couldn't even bring myself to look up to see how many had changed back. Why weren't they trying to kill me yet? Were the more sympathetic wolves holding them back? Were they arguing amongst themselves about how to do it? I couldn't tell. All that truly mattered was that Laurent paid dearly for killing my beautiful Bella, and that I would be reunited with her soon afterwards.

After what seemed like the longest time, I finally stood up and faced the wolves. All of them had turned back into their human forms. I took a deep breath and decided to reason with them. I stared at each one of their faces. Many of them looked disgusted or angry. I deserved that. "I know that many of you blame me for Bella's death." I began.

_No shit, Sherlock_, one of them thought sarcastically.

"I blame myself entirely.", I continued. "I left her thinking she would be better off without so many vampires around putting her in constant danger." Many of the wolves were wondering why I couldn't just _stay_ away, then. They were wondering why I came back to Forks. I ignored them. "I see now that I made a mistake. I didn't realize that there were other, more hostile vampires that were after her. It makes me sick, realizing what I left her to deal with. If you want to kill me, go right ahead. Without her, I have no reason to live. First though, Laurent is going to die. I know where he's hiding now, and I can assure you that he won't be hiding much longer." Many of the wolves nodded in agreement at this.

Unfortunately, many of them had no intention of letting me do this alone. They wanted to track down and kill Laurent as well. I shook my head. "This coward, Laurent, has hidden among some of my fellow peaceful vampires. He's pretended to be one of us, even bonded with one of Tanya's coven. He acted as if he were interested in living off of animals. I can see now how horribly naive we were to believe him. Still, that doesn't excuse the fact that we took him in, believing he wanted to be one of our coven. It's best if I go alone. I wouldn't want any more innocent people to die because of what he did."

Many of the wolves looked pissed, but I wasn't about to let them come with me to Alaska. To them, the only good vampire was a dead vampire. Laurent would pay, but I didn't want anyone in my coven or Tanya's coven to be killed because a bunch of vengeful teenage werewolves went overboard.

"After I kill Laurent, you can kill me in whatever way you want. I'm sure I deserve it. However, Bella told Laurent I would track him down if he killed her" I told them. The memory replayed in their heads. "I'm going to let him know that I _did_ care enough to investigate, and that I _am_ going to kill him for this. He'll go to his grave knowing how very wrong he was" Many of the wolves seemed to accept this now. Bella had told him that I was going to get him if he attacked her. The least I could do is honor that last request. Without another word, I dashed off into the forest.

I had gone about a hundred miles towards Alaska when my cell phone rang. Still running, I answered it. Alice was on the other line. She was furious.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" she asked. "Why am I getting visions of you coming up here and killing Laurent?"

"Laurent killed Bella!" I shouted angrily into the phone. I knew I shouldn't take it out on Alice, but my quest for vengeance hadn't dulled my grief over my Bella being gone. "He killed her! That son-of-a-bitch told Bella that I wouldn't even care enough to investigate, and then he killed her!" I shouted. My voice was breaking. I didn't care. Alice was incredulous.

"No," she gasped, "There must be some mistake!"

"There's no mistake." I told her. "Come down here and see for yourself, if you don't believe me." I waited patiently as she saw herself coming down here and finding Bella's grave and asking the wolves what happened. By the time that long silence was broken, I had gone another thirty miles.

"Oh my God." she finally gasped. I could hear her voice breaking now, too. "So it's true."

"Yes", I told her, "It's true." I could hear several stifled dry sobs on the other end of the line.

"In that case, you'd better hurry up." Alice told me. "I may avenge Bella myself before you even get here!"  
I could hear anger seeping from her voice as she said this. I understood. She had trusted Laurent. We all did. Like the rest of us, she had believed that Laurent truly wanted to change. That he was tired of living off of humans and wondering aimlessly around. He had betrayed our trust.

"Tell them first." I told her. "They deserve to know what happened."

"All right, I will." she resolved. "You're right, they have a right to know." She hung up the phone. I stuffed my phone in my pocket and raced onward. I was almost to the Canada/Alaska border when I saw that Alice had come to meet me here. She'd had another vision after I had left. One I wouldn't have believed if I weren't seeing it right now replaying in her mind.

This vision stopped me in my tracks.

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**Yes, I ended this on a cliffhanger! Muahaha! Okay, I want to know how you're liking my little fanfic so far. Is it good? Are there areas where I need to improve? Don't be afraid to give a little constructive criticism. I can take it. On the same note, if you liked the story, let me know! I want to know if I should keep writing! I'm not going to keep writing a story if not that many people like it. Thanks to Child of Gallifrey and Sea of Topaz for reviewing my first chapter. Your reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	3. Alice's Vision

Chapter 3- Alice's Vision

**Hey everybody! I got a lot more reviews for Chapter 2. Sorry it was so short. This chapter will be longer, I promise! I'm glad everybody's enjoying the story so far. So, here's a brand-new chapter for you to enjoy. Let me know how you like it!**

**Disclaimer:** Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, Midnight Sun, and all characters associated with Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended. I just get bored and play with the story for fun.

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_"She's going to need a lot of blood transfusions", Carlisle reported as he stood over a patient, "but I think she's going to make it." I saw myself smiling a little at this news. We were in Carlisle's office. There was a patient lying on a table in the middle of the office. Alice was sitting on a chair in the corner. She seemed to be searching for the outcome of whatever was going on. Esme, Jasper and Emmett were standing behind me. Rosalie was nowhere to be seen. Every second or so, there was an odd whooshing sound. It sounded like air being pushed out of a bicycle pump. The patient was hooked up to an EKG, which beeped every time the whooshing noise sounded. I was confused. In my ninety years or so as a vampire, I've never heard a heart that sounded like that. It sounded as if it were trying to pump something that was no longer there. The patient's breathing was slow and shallow, as if they were in a deep coma. The way Carlisle stood, his body blocked any view I had of the person on the table. "Her time...away has also left her very hypothermic." Carlisle continued. He seemed hesitant on using the word 'away'. He seemed to think that any other synonym would upset somebody. "She'll need to be warmed up quite a bit. With a single nod, Emmett ran into the next room and came back a quarter of a second later with what appeared to be about ten blankets. I saw myself wrap about five of them tightly around the patient, tucking her in gently. I saw myself stroking her hair. I looked incredibly upset, but I also seemed to be hiding it from everyone around me._

It didn't add up. There was only one person in the world who could make me act like that. Right now, that person was six feet under. How can this happen? I was confused. The only thing in the world that could make me that happy anymore was if this whole thing never happened. If Bella was perfectly safe and well, if we could be together again, that would truly make me happy. Much as I really hated to admit it, though, that was never going to happen. The only way I could be with my Bella again would occur right after I avenged her, in the same meadow where she was now.

_"We'll need to start the transfusions quickly." He told me. As Carlisle moved aside to get the blood bag, I stared with shock at the patient on the table. It was none other than Bella. My Bella! Her pale features looked even paler than usual, almost as white as snow. Her breathing came in short, shallow breaths. That whooshing sound I had heard earlier was her heartbeat. There was a breathing tube in her nose. Still, she was just as beautiful as ever. It made me smile to see my angel breathing again. "I'll need her arm." Carlisle told me. I saw myself gently trying to remove her arm from the tightly wrapped blankets. She looked so fragile! Finally, the arm was sticking out of the blankets. Carlisle stuck the needle into her arm. Slowly, the whooshing sound began to sound more and more like a heartbeat. Alice looked up from the corner where she was sitting. With a huge grin, she announced "Bella's going to make it." I saw myself bend over and kiss her cheek. Then, I held her hand, stroking it with my thumb. A weak smile formed on my face._

I was astonished. How? How was this even possible? I suddenly realized that I was on my knees. I stood up, smiling for the first time in what seemed like years. It had only been eight hours since I had left the meadow, and ten hours since I had entered it. I stared at Alice. She was smiling, too. "How?" I finally managed to choke out. "How did that...?"

"Siobhan". Alice answered simply. I still didn't understand. Alice took a deep breath. "When I went back to the house, I was pissed." She began. Jasper sensed my fury and he immediately tried to calm it, but I told him to hear me out. 'All right', he told me, 'why are you so justifiably angry, then?' I told Jasper what had happened, what I saw. I told him about finding Bella's grave, and I told him what that little kid told me."

"What little kid?" I asked. "I thought you talked to the wolves." Hadn't that been what she had seen herself doing during that long silence over the phone?

"I didn't see any wolves." Alice told me. "I only saw myself talking to this kid. He couldn't have been older than thirteen. He told me what he said his brothers had told him. When I asked where his brothers were, he told me his brothers were going to fight. I don't know what he meant by that, but none of his brothers seemed to be anywhere nearby."

Dammit! Those wolves must have gone after Laurent as well! Dammit! What did I expect? Did I expect them to just sit there while I ran after Bella's killer? They were probably tailing me right now! I was so stupid to just assume that they would just stay put while I ran off and avenged my love. After all, they had seemed almost as eager for revenge as I was. One little vampire wasn't going to stop them.

Almost as if on cue, the wolves came up right behind us. They stopped, as if confused as to why I had stopped as well.

_Hey, what the hell? Why'd you stop?_ The leader thought. I was thoroughly annoyed at this point. I wanted to find out how this vision came about. More importantly I wanted to make sure that it did come about. I would give anything to make sure that happened. No matter what it took.

"I thought I told you to stay." I snapped at him in a gruff tone.

_And miss our chance to kill that bloodsucker that killed Bella? Are you crazy?_ The leader asked. Maybe I was.

"Do you want to hear how I got this vision or not?" Alice snapped, clearly annoyed. I could tell she wasn't going to keep this story from us, though. Bella now had a shot at a second chance, and Alice was not going to make Bella pay because of some interruption by a few dogs. She was, however, holding off the mental images until she could continue. I held a hand up to the dogs, a signal that they should shut up.

"Anyway," Alice continued, "I told Jasper what the kid told me. Basically, that Laurent had gone off and killed Bella. I then turned around and shouted at Laurent, who happened to be in the room at the time. I called him a coward and a murderer. I told him if he thought he could just kill one of our family and get away with it, he was gravely mistaken!"

The wolves were annoyed by this. Not necessarily that Alice had shouted at Laurent, but that she had called Bella "one of our family". They didn't like the idea of Bella associating with vampires at all. Too bad, I thought. Like it or not, I'm not leaving her side again.

"Naturally, all of Tanya's coven was shocked by this. Laurent, being the coward that he was, denied it. He told them 'I don't know what Alice is talking about. I would never harm one of the Cullens' coven. Though I am curious as to why you left this Bella so thoroughly unprotected, if you value her so much.' Irina took this as proof. 'See?', she asked, "See? You're lying! Laurent would never do something like that!' Siobhan, who was also visiting Tanya along with Maggie and Liam, just sat in her seat, muttering 'It's not true. It's not true. It can't be true.' over and over and over again. Kate, however, became a little suspicious. 'If you didn't kill Bella,' she asked, 'then why would you care whether she was protected or not? Is there some bigger threat out there that she should have been protected from?' At that point, Laurent shifted the blame to Victoria. He told the Denali coven about how Victoria was out for revenge, and made it sound as if this concerned him. Now Maggie was suspicious. 'If you were so concerned about this human, though, why didn't you stay behind to protect her?", Maggie asked, "Of inform one of us or one of the Cullens that this was going on?' I could tell they could see right through Laurent's lies, but Irina still didn't believe me. 'Why should it be Laurent's job to protect some insignificant little human, anyway?'", Irina asked.

I could hear the disgust in Alice's voice over Irina calling Bella an _'insignificant little human'_. Bella was anything but insignificant. A low growl escaped my throat, and I realized I wasn't the only one. Several of the wolves had growled as well. They didn't know entirely what was going on, but they could tell that Alice was just as much out for revenge as the rest of us. What they didn't know was that revenge was no longer the goal. Laurent was going to get his. I would make sure of that. If there was a chance for Bella, though, then that was going to be my first priority. Revenge could wait as long as I had Bella. Perhaps I would even let her decide exactly how this revenge would be carried out. It was, after all, over her that I going to Alaska. After a moment's hesitation, Alice continued.

"I snapped back at her that Bella was NOT insignificant. This almost sparked a fight, but Jasper used his powers to calm us both down. I told her that you were extremely pissed that Bella was killed, and that Bella had been your mate. Irina asked 'If she was so absolutely important, why did Edward leave her unprotected with this Victoria around? And for that matter, why the hell is a human walking around knowing our secrets?'"

The first question really burned me. That's exactly what I had done, and Bella had paid a terrible price because of it. I could probably have expected the second question from any vampire that didn't know what Bella and I had. The fact that Irina had used it to excuse Laurent's actions, however, sickened me. I might expect such an attitude from one of the Volturi, but it was disgusting to hear it from someone I had actually regarded as family. Alice continued.

"This whole time, Siobhan had been sitting in her seat, muttering 'It's not true. It's not true. It can't be true.' Liam was trying to comfort her, but he wasn't succeeding. It almost seemed as if she were focusing. I know she tells everybody she doesn't believe her power is real, but I don't know how else she could have just sat there the whole time, chanting the same words. It was at about this time that I got that vision. When I came out of it, everyone in the room was staring at me. Kate asked 'What did you see?' I told them, "Bella's coming back! Siobhan, that ability of yours is absolutely amazing!' Of course, she denied having that ability, but I don't see any other way this could have happened."

I grinned from ear to ear. The wolves, finally understanding what was going on, let out several howls in celebration of this news. Alice, however, held up her hand like she wasn't finished.

"Unfortunately, Irina wasn't going to let this slide. She said she wasn't going to stop us from getting Bella, but she said that if anyone killed Laurent she would seek revenge by killing Bella again."

I growled at this, as did many of the wolves.

"Kate gave her a _nasty_ shock for that." Alice announced, grinning. I was still uncomfortable. It didn't matter if Irina went after Bella or not, though. I would sooner die than allow Bella to be killed again. Over my burnt remains would she ever go _near_ Bella again.

"There's another problem." Alice stated. I stared at her.

"You mean, besides the hypothermia and the need for blood transfusions?" I asked. Alice nodded.

"In about three hours, she's going to wake up." Alice told me. "If she wakes up alone in that casket six feet underground, she'll probably suffocate before any of us can reach her. We have to go back to that meadow _now_."

I didn't need to be told twice. I didn't even need to be told once. As soon as Alice had thought it, I was off. I raced towards our meadow, running faster than I have ever run in my entire life. I had to get back there in time! If I didn't, well, I couldn't think about that. This was a second chance, her second chance. If I took that away from her by not being there for her, I would be even more of a monster than I thought I was. I had to reach her, and I had to do it before time ran out!

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**Yay! Another chapter is up! I made this one way longer than the last one. I figured you might like a longer chapter this time. Please review!**


	4. Safe

Chapter Four - Safe

**Hey everybody! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! Thanks to everybody that reviewed! I really appreciate it! Sorry it took so long to update. I've been kinda busy.**

**Disclaimer**: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. She owns the characters, the plot, and everything associated with the Twilight series. I own nothing. I just love putting my little "what ifs" down for all the world to see.

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I raced frantically through Canada, racing desperately back to my love. I stared, for the millionth time, at the clock on my cell phone while still racing onward. Five minutes. I now had five minutes to reach the love of my life before she awoke to an airless underground prison, one that was sure to kill her again within minutes. I ran, if possible, even faster than before. I was now about ten miles from our meadow. Ten miles that separated me and that beautiful woman I was so desperately in love with. I could hardly wait to stroke that soft, brown hair, kiss her gently, and tell her all the "I love you"s that I never thought I would be able to tell her. I would hold her close and make sure she knows that I will never leave her again. Unless, of course, she wanted me to leave. After all I put her through, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. I had broken her heart and left her in mortal danger, yet her last words had still been "Edward, I love you." These words had a different effect on me now. I still felt absolutely terrible at what I had done. I still missed my Bella so dearly it hurt. Instead of being overcome with grief remembering these words, however, I was now overcome with determination. I was determined to get my Bella out of there if it was the last thing I did.

I reached the edge of our meadow. One minute left. As I started to head toward her grave, I saw that someone had already reached her. The grave was dug open, leaving only an empty casket and a light mingling of her beautiful scent and decay. There was a note taped to the headstone. I picked it up.

* * *

Dear Edward,

Hope you don't mind, but I told Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rose what was going on with Bella. If she's out already, one of them probably got to her before you did. I couldn't risk what would happen if no one could reach her in time. I saw Carlisle and Esme taking a plane and reaching her first, so I gave them this note to put here. She's in good hands. I can see that.

- Alice

* * *

I read the note with and enormous sigh of relief. Bella was in good hands. Carlisle had centuries of experience being a doctor. She probably had a better chance of making it with him around than with anybody else. I hate to admit it, but that included me as well. Smiling at the prospect of seeing my love once more, I made my way towards our old house.

As I approached the house, I could hear Esme's thoughts running through her head.

_Poor Bella! I really want to help her, but I can't stand to see her that way. She's such a sweet girl, too. Oh, I just can't stand to see Bella that way!_

An image flashed into my mind of Bella in her open grave. Her beautiful face was still twisted in a mask of fear, her skin was sagging around her face. She was very thin, and seemed to be literally all skin and bones. The most chilling thing of all was the complete stillness and silence coming from her. Not a single breath. Not a single heartbeat.

This image stopped me in my tracks for the second time that day. It took all the strength I had to get up off my knees. I had to keep telling myself that this wasn't Bella. Not anymore. She was back. Eventually, I was able to pull myself to my feet. I could hear Esme's dry sobs coming from outside the house. She was standing by the front door. When she heard me approach, she looked up. I gave a sort of half-smile.

"She's not going to stay that way, mom" I told her, "she'll be healthy in no time." I said that last part just as much to assure myself than to assure Esme. She hugged me, still sobbing. I understood. Esme saw Bella as a daughter, and a member of the family.

"I'm going to go inside", I told her. "I want to be there for her when she wakes up." Esme nodded. "Are you going to be okay?" I asked. She nodded. She still seemed very shaken by the whole experience, but she was ready to enter the house again. _If I'm going to help her recover_, she thought, _I have to see her alive_. _I'm not helping the situation by standing outside and crying about it._

"I'm sorry for going to pieces like this.", she sobbed. "It's just...I can't see Bella like that. I just can't." I nodded.

"It's hard for me, too." I replied.

As we went inside, Carlisle popped his head out of the door to his office. "She's back." He announced. "She's not conscious yet, but she's back." I raced into the office and sat down in a chair by her side, gazing at her face. Esme followed soon after. All at once, it became deja vous. I could her heart trying to beat, yet sounding like an air pump. I could hear the EKG measuring her heart's attempts to beat. Alice came in and sat down on a chair in the corner, gazing at Bella. Emmett entered the room quietly. His normal tough-guy appearance was now mingled with a look of sadness and deep concern. "She's going to need a lot of blood transfusions." Carlisle announced. I knew this already. This time, though, I would wait until _after_ he stuck the needle in to wrap her up in blankets._ "_Her time...away has also left her very hypothermic." Carlisle continued "She'll need to be warmed up quite a bit". With a single nod, Emmett ran into the next room and came back a quarter of a second later with what appeared to be about ten blankets. I gently stroked Bella's hand. My beautiful love was right here and breathing. It was short, shallow breaths, but she was breathing. It was a start. Carlisle stuck the needle into her arm.

Almost immediately, the bright red blood began to flow. It flowed from the IV bag straight into her veins. I took about five of the blankets that Emmet had brought and wrapped them gently and tightly around her. I leaned over and kissed her cheek. I began to gently stroke her hair. I hummed her favorite lullaby, the one I had written just for her. I imagine I didn't look as anxious now as I did in the vision. Now, I knew she was going to be all right.

About four hours passed by. It took several bags of blood to get Bella back to her normal levels. It was four hours of worry, torment, and guilt. I had done this to her. I had left her alone with Victoria and Laurent in the area. If I hadn't left her like that, she'd have been safe all along. She wouldn't have been attacked by Laurent and she wouldn't be in danger from Victoria. Even if Victoria was still after her, there would at least be me to protect her. I mean, I basically left her safety in the care of werewolves. Werewolves! Those volatile and immature _dogs_! And look what happened! My eyes were drawn back to her face. She looked as beautiful as ever. Her face was only slightly paler than her usual color now, and her breaths were becoming deeper.

"She's sleeping now." Carlisle informed us. "We should just let her rest."

What truly worried me was the look on her face. There were bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept soundly in a long time. There was a deep sadness in her expression, even in her sleep. She looked as if she hadn't been truly happy in a long time. A single tear rolled down her cheek. I softly brushed it away. "It's all right, Bella." I whispered to her. "No one is going to hurt you anymore."

About an hour into her slumber, I began to see images of trees in my head. It looked as if someone was running through the woods. I began to wonder if there was a wolf hanging around the house. That couldn't be a werewolf, though, could it? It felt as if it was someone very close by. This seemed different, though. The sky I could see in my mind seemed to be much darker than the sky was right now. The person's eyes were sweeping back and forth, as if they were searching for something. Searching for...me! _No! please come back_! a beautiful voice called. _Please come back!_

I recognized that voice at once, both in my head and from the way my beautiful Bella had mumbled it. The audible murmur didn't reflect the pure panic in her thoughts. It was Bella. My Bella. My beautiful love was having a nightmare. I gently picked her up. I held her close and kissed the top of her head. I stroked her hair gently and whispered in her ear.

"It's okay, Bella", I told her. "It's only a bad dream. It's all right. No one's going to hurt you anymore. I'm going to make sure of that." Her face was now resting on my shoulder. I pulled her close, carefully trying not to crush her. The five blankets that were wrapped around her would act as a barrier between her and my icy skin. My fingers lightly brushed her cheek. She was still far too cold. Her skin felt only slightly warmer than mine. Normally, it felt as warm as a soothing hot bath on an icy cold day. Now, it felt about the same temperature as any other object in the room. She was nowhere near as warm as she should be.

Wait, I had just read her mind! How? I gazed at her face. The running was beginning to slow into jogging. The fantic tension was beginning to fade. Still, I could see her dreams so clearly in my head. How many times had I sat by her bed and wished I could see what she was dreaming? How many times had I wondered what was behind those sleepy little mumbles. Now, I could see them as clearly as if I were in her dreams with her! I held her close, breathing in as much of her sweet scent as I could. It was a beautiful combination of roses, campfires, and ocean air. However, now it was mixed with many other scents that didin't normally go with Bella. There was just about every scent from rotten eggs to roasting cinnamon.

It was at that instant that I figured it out. It was her blood. All those blood transfusions had given her the different scents. It had also allowed me to read her mind, just as if it were anyone else's. It would probably fade away in a few months, when her own blood cells began to replace the donated ones. For now, I was able to watch her dream and chase her nightmares away. That meant quite a lot to me.

Within seconds of my taking her into my arms, her nightmare began to fade away. It lost it's intensity. In less than a minute the frantic search had become a pleasant stroll. A small smile appeared on her face. I pulled her closer. For the thousandth time that day, I wondered just how extensive the pain that I had caused her really was. How often had she been having these nightmares? How long have these dark circles been under her eyes like that? How long has this deep sadness haunted her? I kissed the top of her head again. She had been really deeply hurt by this. I could see that now, and I felt like a monster for it. "Edward", she whispered. Her thoughts were calm now, no longer frantic and panicked as they were less than a minute ago.

"I'm right here, my love." I answered. "I'm never going to leave you like that again." She smiled. I'd missed seeing her beautiful smile. It was one thing I had really been looking forward to seeing this morning when I first entered that meadow. For the first time that day, I really began to feel like it was all going to be all right. She was going to make a full recovery. Then, she would either hate me for what I had done, or she would forgive me for it and still love me. I knew I didn't deserve the latter, after what I'd done to her. Still, I couldn't help but hope.

At exactly that moment, Alice came bursting into the room. She looked frantic. Instantly, the vision she had just seen came into my head. I wondered how I could have missed it as it was happening. Before Alice could utter a single word, I already knew what had happened.

The wolves had found and killed Laurent. Tanya's coven thought that we had sent them. Irina was now on her way here, intent on destroying the precious human that her Laurent had been killed over.

Bella.

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**So, that was chapter 4. Sorry for the long wait. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review! I love reviews!**

**Thanks so much to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it. I especially want to thank Sea of Topaz for reviewing every chapter. Thanks so much!**

**Please Review!**


	5. Escape

Chapter 5 - Escape

**Hey all you fans out there! This is my fifth chapter in this fanfic! I just love ending on cliffhangers. They make stories more fun! Anyway, I hope you like my new posting system. I don't want my readers to have to constantly keep checking back to see if a new chapter was posted yet. I also don't want anyone to think I forgot about the story or abandoned it or anything. I didn't. It just takes a while to write the chapters. Anyway, let me know what you think of the story.**

_There will be a couple of dream scenes in this chapter. Italics and underlines will be used to differentiate the dream scenes from the reality. If the text is italicized and underlined, it's a dream scene._

**Disclaimer**: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, all the Twilight books, and anything to do with Twilight. I just write this stuff because I like to and because there are a million little "what ifs" that just beg to be written about. This is one of them.

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_Irina stormed into the house, breaking the back door off the hinges as she entered. She was absolutely fur__ious._ "_Where is she?_"_, Irina snarled._ _"Where is this Bella?" She stormed into the house, eyeing everyone there. "I know you sent those wolves after my beloved Laurent!" she shouted. "We had a deal! You leave my Laurent alone, and I'll leave your precious Bella alone! Now, the love of my life is gone. Gone! Killed by a pack of wild dogs!" _

I could see Jasper trying to calm her down. Irina would have none of it.

"_Don't you dare think you can change my mind!_"_, she snapped. "I know what I'm talking about! You broke our deal, and now I'm here for revenge! I'm not leaving until I know exactly where they're going!" Suddenly, she turned towards Alice. "You!", she shouted, pointing at Alice. "You know where they're going, don't you?". She stormed over towards Alice. "You can see them, can't you?" Jasper jumped protectively in front of Alice, though Alice looked as if she wasn't going to give in. She looked as if she was about to fight. At that moment, Kate, Tanya, Carmen, and Elazar raced into the house, physically blocking Irina from Alice. Alice looked quite annoyed at all these people in front of her, but said nothing. Irina_ _looked as if she was about to explode in anger. "We had a deal!", Irina shouted. "If you hadn't hired those dogs to kill my beloved Laurent, I would have left the little human alone. But no, you just had to have your revenge, didn't you? Well, I took care of each and every one of them. Pathetic werewolves. A couple doses of vampire venom took care of each and every one of them quite nicely. Now, I know your little friend has information. Laurent told me all about the things his little friends used to do when someone had the information they wanted. I assure you no vampires will be killed, but I do need that human."_

Even through her visions, I could tell that Alice seriously doubted no vampires would be killed. If you killed Bella, you killed me. It was just that simple. Alice looked worried, and I could tell this wasn't going to end well.

_Kate gave Irina a nasty shock, yet Irina just laughed. "Do you really think that's going to stop me?" Irina asked. "You were there! You saw that agreement being made! You heard what would happen if they killed my precious Laurent!" Carlisle cleared his throat._

"_Nobody hired anybody to kill Laurent. Now calm down, Irina." Carlisle told her. Jasper sent another calming wave into the frenzy. "Now listen, nobody sent anyone to kill Laurent. At least, not after the agreement was made. The wolves were very angry with Laurent for killing Bella." These words sent Irina into an even deeper fury._

"_You killed my Laurent over a human who is friends with WEREWOLVES?" she shouted. "How do you know this girl wasn't betraying our secrets to them? How do you know she wasn't plotting with those dogs against us all along?"_

She wouldn't, I thought. That wasn't Bella. Unfortunately, some of the crowd seemed to think she had a point.

_At these words, the looks on the faces of Kate, Tanya, Carmen, Elazar, and Rosalie changed. They all seemed to think that Irina had a point. It was one thing to spare a human that one of the Cullens was in love with. It was quite another to spare a human that had allied themselves with werewolves. Tanya stepped forward._

"_All right, Irina." she said. "We'll ask Alice a few questions, but there will be NONE of James' torture methods. I know you're above that." Irina didn't look like she was making any promises._

"_Let's go." Irina told Alice. She left, with Carmen, Elazar, Tanya, and Kate following behind her. Carmen and Elazar led Alice out the door. The vision ended._

* * *

I raced out the door. Quickly grabbing the other five blankets that lay on the table, Alice followed. I had just buckled Bella into the passenger seat of my Volvo when the vision came to Alice's mind again. She looked at me with a puppy face. Of _course_ she would be a target if the Denali coven was looking for Bella and I. They would try to use her visions of the future to track us down. I also knew that Alice would never betray us. She loved Bella like a sister.

"Get in." I told her urgently. We had to hurry if we were going leave before Irina and the others showed up. The more space we had between the three of us and the five of them, the better. Alice threw the blankets into the backseat before hopping inside and shutting the door. I was already starting the car. I backed it out of the driveway and took off down the long wooded drive. The woods raced by at 120 miles an hour. Now I only needed to figure out where we were going to go. I turned on the heater and the bun warmers to warm Bella up. A warm, gentle breeze was now blowing on her face, and a soothing warmth spread across her back. She smiled. I hoped that breeze and the bun warmers felt as good to her as her touch usually felt to me. I stroked her hair gently. I didn't want her nightmares to come back. I wanted my Bella to have pleasant dreams.

As I drove the car down a long and narrow street, I contined to stroke her hair. Her skin was slowly beginning to warm up. It wasn't quite as warm as it was supposed to be, but it was getting there. It now felt as warm as human skin normally felt to other humans. If it wasn't for the fact that I was so much colder than she was, I would have thought her temperature was at or near where it should be. I reached down and kissed the top of her head, smiling at her. She was quite beautiful, curled up in the passenger seat beside me.

"Watch the road, Edward!" Alice scolded. I suddenly realized that the car had veered onto the wrong side of the road. I quickly corrected it.

Bella continued to slumber on. After an hour and a half, she began to dream again. The woods that had been the setting of her dreams had now become a beautiful beach. I could see her so clearly in my mind.

_She was lying on the beach, and I was lying right next to her. In her dream, she was in a bikini, and I was in swim trunks. Her head rested gently on my shoulder and her hand rested on my chest, right over where my unbeating heart was. She had the most beautiful and contented smile on the face. She sighed contentedly. Her skin felt as warm and wonderful as it always had. The sun was setting, covering the sky in the darkening hues of twilight. The sand was still warm from the heat of the day. Warm, but not uncomfortably hot. Her other arm reached around behind my back. Her other hand was now on my shoulder, on the opposite side of the side she was on. She looked as if she was about to say something. I gazed into those chocolate-brown eyes and listened..._

"Edward!" I could hear my name being spoken by both Bella and Alice at the same time. Bella was dreamily sighing it in her sleep. Alice was shouting it in a panic. I had veered to the wrong side of the road again, and this time there was a tractor-trailer heading right for us. The driver honked at us. I quickly steered the car to the right side of the road again. As it passed, I could hear the driver uttering a long string of profanities.

_Damn teenage son-of-a-bitch! Why do these kids always think they're so cool driving like idiots? He could've gotten himself killed! Man, the stupid shit kids these days think they can get away with! When are these kids going to learn that trying to cheat death will only get them killed? Damn near gave me a heart attack!_

"Perhaps you'd better let me drive", Alice suggested. I could tell she was pretty irritated with me by this point. I pulled the car over to the side of the road. Alice got in the driver's seat. I moved Bella into the back with me. I wanted to continue keeping her nightmares away.

"_I missed you so much, Edward_", Bella told sighed, both in her dream and in real life. "_You have no idea how much I missed you._"

"No, I probably don't", I whispered sadly. How much had she missed me? Was it a lot? Was it as much as I missed her?

"_Please don't leave me again", she asked. "Please. I love you so much. I know you don't love me anymore, but I can't stop loving you. Please don't go._"

Her voice was so wonderful to hear again, yet the sadness that filled it threatened to turn her dream into a nightmare once again.

A few tears slid silently down her cheeks. This broke my heart .I wiped them gently away. It tore me up inside. I'd hurt her so much! How could she still love a monster like me after all that I'd put her through? It didn't add up. Still, there was that selfish part of me that was elated and overjoyed that she still loved me.

I pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. "Don't worry, Bella," I told her, "I will never leave you like that again. Ever. It was the most foolish mistake of my life, and I'm very sorry. Don't believe a word of what I said in the woods, okay? I love you. I always have loved you, and I'm always going to love you. Nothing is ever going to change that." She smiled beautifully.

_Somehow, my words had found their way into her dream, and she was elated to hear them. She threw her arms around me, holding me as tight as her human arms would allow, laughing. I saw my dream self holding her close, rubbing her shoulder gently. This moment was absolutely perfect_

I noticed the smell of fast food coming from the front seat. Apparently, Alice had stopped at a burger joint at some point. It smelled like enough food for three people.

"Alice, is now really the best time to be stopping?", I asked. "We're kind of on the run from a vengeful vampire here." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Bella's going to be really hungry when she wakes up.", Alice replied. "Trust me, as soon as she wakes up, you'll be glad I was thinking ahead." I didn't bother to argue. Alice was always thinking ahead. I nodded. Alice laughed.

"What's so funny?", I snapped. What could be funny about this?

"You've had the weirdest look on your face for the past fifteen minutes!", she laughed. I saw myself in her mind, gazing at Bella with a love-stuck expression. I looked hypnotized. That was probably the best word to describe what her dreams did to me. They hypnotized me. I never wanted to awaken from that hypnosis. Part of me just wanted to sit there and watch her dream pleasant dreams forever, and to chase away every nightmare that reared its ugly head.

_Suddenly, she became hesitant. It was as if she had suddenly realized that something was very wrong._

This concerned me. What could possibly be happening? Did she sense the nightmare returning?

"What's wrong?", I asked. "Are you all right?" _Bella shook her head. Pulling away from me, she now sat on her heels in the sand about three feet away._

"_This is a hallucination.", she stated. "I've been having a few of them lately, but this is way too realistic. I can't let this go on. It's going to hurt later._"

I was shocked. Bella was having hallucinations? Had my leaving really hurt her that badly? Did she need psychological treatment because of what I had done to her? She looked so sad! I wanted, more than anything, to hold her close and tell her how immensely sorry I was. I wanted to tell her that I had meant what I said earlier, about never leaving her again.

"Bella," I told her, "You're not hallucinating. You're dreaming." As soon as I said those words, I wished I hadn't. _Dreaming_ still implied that this wasn't real, that I wasn't really there. "It's all right now.", I quickly told her. "I'm here, and I won't leave you again. I swear I won't leave. I'm here in real life as well. I'm holding you right now!" I _had_ to make her believe that I hadn't stopped loving her. She had to know that I was really here, and that I truly cared for her.

_Bella shook her head again._ "_I can't._"_, she said._ "_When I wake up and you're not there, well, I don't know if I'll be able to handle the pain when this all turns out to be just a dream_."

If someone had taken a pitchfork, twisted my internal organs into a jumbled knot and ripped them out, it could not have hurt more than this. I held her close and tight, rubbing her shoulders gently and keeping her as close to me as possible.

"_Please don't do anything drastic, Bella_." I told her, my voice breaking. Even if it _was_ just in her dreams, I couldn't stand the thought of anything bad happening to my Bella. I wanted to take away every single ounce of pain that I had caused her. I wanted her to be happy and safe, no matter what. _She stared at me going to pieces. Her face changed from disappointment to worry. _She_ was worried about _me_! After_ I_ had hurt her like that!_

"_I love you so much, Edward_.", _she told me_. "_I love you so much. I want you to know that. I'm always going to love you, whether or not you love me back. I just can't risk getting my hopes up, only to find you still gone when I wake up. Please understand that_."

_I nodded._ "Then, I guess I'll have to wait until you wake up to prove it to you.", I told her, "but I **will **prove it to you. I will prove to you that I've always loved you, that I still love you, and that I'm always going to love you. No matter what it takes. If you hate me afterwards, that's perfectly understandable."_ Bella looked at me incredulously._

"_Weren't you listening to me a second ago?_" _she asked._ I was listening, but it still hadn't sunk in. How was it that she still loved me, after all I had put her through?_ I nodded, then laughed. It wasn't to be mean to her or anything, but I just felt so relieved._ She still loved me. I knew it was very bad of her to love me, that it put her in danger to love me, but I was still so incredibly relived and overjoyed when she said it. I didn't deserve for an angel like her to love me, yet she did_. Bella smiled, too. A beautiful grin spread across her face. Nothing on earth could compare to how beautiful her grin was._

At that moment, the dream disappeared. Bella stirred slightly. I could hear her confused thoughts swirling around in her head, bringing more questions into the mix with each passing second. She was awake.

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**Hey everybody! Hope you enjoyed that chapter! It's one of the more fun chapters to write. Anyway, I'd really like to hear what you think about it. Please review!**


	6. Bella's Turn

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**Disclaimer**: Stephanie Meyer owns everything to do with Twilight. I just write fanfics. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Chapter Six - Bella's Turn

**Bella's POV**

What a perfect dream. Part of me wishes I hadn't realized how much it would hurt later. It could have been the most perfect dream in the world. On the other hand, it _will_ hurt later. I can't think about...well,...him and not have it hurt later. It hurt to even think his name. How can I think about how wonderful that dream was and not have it tear the hole in my insides as wide as they will go, leaving nothing but emptiness inside? I find myself desperately wishing that every word Edward had said in that dream was true. So desperately. I would give anything if only it were all true. I would give up my mortality in a heartbeat. I would give away all my classic literature, including Wuthering Heights. I would do anything to make the words of that wonderful dream a reality. I hated feeling so alone all the time. I was sick of it hurting so much. I was sick of feeling as if a part of me was gone and never coming back. Why couldn't those words be true? Even just the teeniest bit?

Suddenly, I felt myself being clutched tightly to someone's chest. My head now rested on a snow-cold shoulder. That's when I remembered where I was. I was in the meadow. Our meadow. What I'd perceived as a tight embrace was probably Laurent trying to restrain me so I wouldn't try to escape. This was it. I braced myself. I was terrified, but there was nothing I could possibly do to escape. There was no way I could out-run or out-fight a vampire. I'd tried convincing him I wasn't worth killing, but my stupid enticing blood had thrown all arguments of _that_ nature out the widow. My thoughts were interrupted by a small, dry sob, followed by a kiss on the top of my head.

"It's okay, Bella. It's okay", a beautiful velvet voice whispered in my ear, "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. You're safe now."

The grip became tighter. It now felt as if my ribs were about to crack. As soon as I'd realized this, the grip loosened. It was now tight and secure, yet gentle. One hand held me tight and close to his icy chest. The other hand gently rubbed my back in soothing circles. This calmed me down a bit.

"I love you so much, Bella.", the voice continued, "and I'm always going to love you." I felt a soft kiss land on my nose. "Don't believe a word I said in the woods, okay? It was the a lie, all of it. There is no way I could ever exist without loving you."

That beautiful voice was definitely Edward's. There was no mistaking that. The question was, was it real? It had sounded so much better, more clear than all my other hallucinations. It had sounded,,,perfect. Absolutely perfect. More perfect than anything else in the world could possibly sound, and far better than any hallucination I'd ever had. I decided to see for myself, just to make sure. After all, the hallucinations had all been auditory, not visual. If I opened my eyes and saw the love of my life with me, I would know this was not a hallucination. If I opened my eyes and I was alone (or worse, about to be killed by Laurent), I would know this was a hallucination.

I opened my eyes.

There, looking just as beautiful as ever, was Edward. Not only was he in the same room with me, but he was holding me in his arms! I gazed up at his beautiful amber eyes and perfect features. All at once, it sent a wave of sadness and worry through me.

Edward's expression looked tortured. His eyes were filled with a look of worry and love mixed in with a deep, deep sadness. I sat up and gently kissed his cheek. I had to ease this sadness somehow. I tried to wrap my arms around his neck, but my movement was impaired by five bulky blankets and a loving pair of arms.

As soon as I sat up, my head began to spin. I felt incredibly dizzy and lightheaded. It was a weird feeling. My head spun in circles and it was hard to keep my balance. After I'd kissed him, Edward gently set me back onto his shoulder again. He continued to rub my back and hold he close, but his other hand now reached for something in the front seat.

Edward loosened the blankets a little, and I was able to bring my arms out of the blankets and around his neck. I closed my eyes, breathing in his sweet scent. I could feel his cheek pressed up against mine and could hardly believe the fact that this was real. I was actually here, in Edward's arms, and he actually loved me. He gently held me there for a moment, then reached back and brought my arms in front of me, setting my head on his shoulder again. A disk-shaped object was placed into my hands. It was soft and warm, and smelled absolutely wonderful. I opened my eyes to see a burger placed in my hands.

"Eat, Bella.", Edward told me. "You're hungry. You need to eat."

I was surprised by how fast that burger disappeared. I must have consumed that thing in only a few bites. Before I knew it, another one was being pressed gently into my palm. I hadn't even realized how hungry I was before. It felt as if I hadn't eaten in days!

"Thanks", I told him, taking a bite of the second burger. Like the first, it is gone in a matter of seconds. A third was placed into my hands.

"Thank Alice.", Edward said, smiling as I devoured the last of the burgers. "She's the one who saw that you'd be hungry and got the burgers." I looked in the front seat. Sure enough, Alice was driving the car.

"Alice!", I shouted excitedly, "Alice! I missed you so much! How are you?" I asked. I could barely contain my excitement. For the first time in six months, it felt as if my life was changing for the better. I had gone from a dark and lonely abyss to being surrounded by two people I cared about very much. Two people who had made my life complete, and who I had been terrified I would never see again. Edward gave my shoulder a small squeeze.

"I'm doing great, Bella." Alice told me. I'd missed hearing her wind-chime voice so much! Edward chuckled behind me. I didn't get it. What was so funny? Was Alice thinking something funny? Why wasn't I in on the joke?

I noticed Alice's eyes were pitch-black. Dark circles like bruises were underneath them. She was thirsty. Alice, however, acted as if nothing was wrong.

That's when it clicked. My last memories before waking up had been Laurent and I in the meadow when he was about to attack. I remembered the bite feeling like fire slicing into my throat, and the worsening feeling of exhaustion and wooziness as the blood was drained out of my body. I remembered feeling as if I was being choked as the venom-coated teeth sank into my neck, piercing my jugular vein and cutting into my throat. I remembered screaming and coughing, my shrieks piercing the forest air. I remembered a rough, icy hand holding my mouth shut and silencing my screams. After about half a minute of screaming, everything had gone black. Now, I had woken up in Edward's car, in Edward's _arms_, to find that he still loved me. Then, there was that horrible, tortured look on his face when I first opened my eyes.

Edward wasn't laughing anymore.

It all made sense now. Alice must have seen what was going to happen. She saw Laurent murder me and told Edward. They must have arrived right after I passed out. That must have been a really close one!

I turned towards Edward, ready to thank him. To my surprise, he's shaking his head. That tortured look had come back into his eyes.

"Why are you shaking your head?" I ask him, becoming fearful upon seeing that look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" I was now staring into them, two liquid-gold orbs filled with so much sadness and pain, it made me want to cry.

"That's not what happened.", he admits. He looked as if he truly wished that _was_ what had happened.

"What do you mean? Wait, did you just read my mind?", I ask. He had to, in order to have seen what I was remembering. Edward nods.

"It took a lot of blood transfusions to bring you back." Edward told me, his voice breaking. "I was so worried I would never see you again. When I saw your grave...". His voice broke again.

Grave? I was dead?

Edward nodded. A small sob escaped his throat. I didn't press him for the rest of that sentence. He was holding me close and tight, as if trying to reassure himself that I was still there. I ran my fingers through his bronze hair, kissing him softly on the cheek. He gazed into my eyes, running his finger through _my_ hair. His eyes were full of so much sadness, a tear actually did run down my cheek this time. He brushed it away, then held me close like a precious treasure. I wanted to take away every bit of hurt and pain he was feeling. I wanted to make every tiny bit of that deep sadness go so far away it would never haunt him again.

Edward took a deep breath. "It all began this morning.", he started. He explained how he'd found my grave in the meadow, and how he'd planned on getting his revenge on Laurent before taking his own life.

"Edward!", I exclaimed in shock, "How could you _do_ that?" I thought I'd made my opinions about him offing himself perfectly clear when we watched that Romeo and Juliet movie. Edward shook his head sadly.

"Did you really think I was going to live without you, Bella?", he asked. I didn't see how that had any relevance anymore. I mean, hadn't he been doing just that for the past six months? "Seven.", Edward corrected, "and it was a miserable existence. Th only reason I'd left in the first place was because you deserved a normal life, one that wasn't constantly being put in danger by your associations with vampires. You deserved to be safe, and I knew you couldn't be safe while I was around. I now see that I made a terrible mistake. Had I know that Victoria and Laurent were after you, I would have never left you on your own like that. It makes me sick, sick to my very core realizing what I had allowed to happen to you by leaving you alone like that. I am very sorry, Bella. I know a thousand apologies couldn't make up for what I did to you, but I swear I will never leave you like that again. Unless, of course, you wanted me to."

How could Edward ever think that I would want him to leave? He seemed to be under the impression that it was entirely his fault I was dead. It wasn't. Laurent was the one who had killed me, not Edward. I didn't blame Edward the least little bit for this. I mean, after all the pain that went with him not being there even when I _wasn't_ in danger, being killed by Laurent was just the finale. Edward closed his eyes and pulled me close, apologizing again. I was going to have to keep those images from my mind. I didn't want to hurt him.

"It's okay, Bella", he whispered sadly, "You're safe. I'm not going to let anything come between us now, okay? I'm going to keep you safe."

"It's not your fault.", I told him. "Don't go blaming yourself for this. I'm just prone to danger. That's how it is, and that's how it's always been. You can't go blaming yourself when something happens to me, okay?" Edward didn't seem to believe this. He still looked guilty and terribly sad over what had happened to me.

"So, what happened next?" I asked, trying to get his mind off of the guilt.

He explained about the werewolves showing up. I was confused. I didn't know any wolves. I remembered Jacob once saying something about how the Quileute people were descended from wolves, but that seemed so vague and unconnected to this. I really couldn't figure out why a large group of werewolves would even know me, let alone want to avenge me. Wait, were those what everybody thought were the giant bears? Edward looked just as puzzled as I did.

"They were careful to keep their names from me once they learned I could tell what they were thinking. Vampires and werewolves are natural enemies. I wasn't focused on them very much, anyway. I was far too focused on you." This made me blush, and a tiny smile began to play at the corners of his mouth. It soon disappeared, though. I was curious to know the rest of it.

Edward explained how the wolves had followed him at a distance in order to get to Laurent. He told me about what happened when Alice showed up. Alice herself explained the scenario at Tanya's house, and the vision that came soon afterwards. She also explained about Carmen's ability. Edward then jumped back into the story, telling me what happened after I was dug out. Alice had to take over at some parts, when Edward could no longer speak. Mostly, this was Alice describing what I had looked like before Carmen's little gift had taken effect. She had seen this in one of her visions, and Edward had seen it in Esme's head. Then, I learned about Alice's third vision. Apparently, the wolves had killed Laurent and Irina had killed the wolves using vampire venom. Now, apparently, Irina wanted to kill me as revenge for the wolves killing Laurent. That, apparently, was why we were in Edward's Volvo speeding down some highway at nearly 150 miles an hour.

"I thought vampire venom turned people into vampires." I told them. That had been the notion I had been under.

"For humans it does." Edward explained. "For werewolves, it's kind of like a rattlesnake bite."

"Oh." I said. I wondered for the thousandth time how those wolves had known me. I didn't remember having any contact with the big bear-like animals all those hikers had been seeing. I remembered Jacob saying something about wanting to see these big animals, but I don't think either of us really saw them. As soon as the image of Jacob came into my head, though, Edward seemed to have realized something.

"Bella", Edward asked, "How do you know this guy, Jacob?" I stared at him. Was Edward getting jealous? I mean, nothing could make me stop loving Edward. No one could ever take his place in any way. Edward was the love of my life. I loved him more than words could ever say, and nobody could ever change that.

"No", Edward replied, answering my thoughts. "It's not that. I think I saw Jacob in the woods. I think he was one of the werewolves."

Jacob? A werewolf? No way! Then again, there were those Quileute legends about his people being descended from wolves. Could this possibly be what they meant? No, I would find out for sure. Jacob couldn't be a werewolf, could he? He certainly couldn't have been hiding this from me. Weren't werewolves supposed to change at the full moon, or something?

Edward laughed at this.

Still, what if he was? Was there any way to be absolutely sure? I mean, Jacob was my best friend! _Is_, I told myself, _is _my best friend.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud screech. The car swerved across three lanes of traffic and zipped into an exit that had been just a few hundred yards ahead. Several people honked their horns at us. I imagined many of the drivers were probably uttering expletives or making rude hand gestures behind their windshields.

"Yes, they are.", Edward confirmed, chuckling. It was so good to see him laugh again. A few seconds later, there was another screech and another chorus of horns. The car that had cut everyone off this time swerved in and out of various lanes. By now, someone was probably reporting either our car, the other car, or both as drunk drivers.

"A few people are.", Edward confirmed again. "Why the sudden change in direction, Alice?"

Alice pointed to the other car, a black Mercedes, that was now right behind us and matching our speed. Her face looked grim.

"We've got company."

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**Okay, I finally finished the chapter. Woohoo! So, let me know what you think of it so far. ****Please review!**

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**Next Update:** January 25, 2009


	7. Volturi

Chapter 7 - Volturi

**Hey all you fans! The votes are in, and the majority of readers want the chapter in Edward's POV. So, enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer:** Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and Midnight Sun. They are all her brilliant idea and I have nothing to do with them. No copyright infringement is intended. I just write these stories 'cuz I have a million little "what ifs" in my head and this is one of them.

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"We've got company."

Those words sent a chill through my spine. Clutching my precious Bella close, I focused on the people in the car behind us. To my immense relief, it was the rest of my family.

"It's all right, Alice", I told her, "It's our family." Alice nodded.

I could feel Bella's tension dissipate. Her muscles relaxed, and she heaved a sigh of relief. Then, she freed herself from my arms and climbed into the seat next to me. Standing on her knees on the seat, she looked out the back window. Her blankets fell from her shoulders like ice from a glacier. She smiled at Carlisle and Esme (who were sitting in the front seat) before turning around and sitting in the seat properly.

I could hear Esme's relieved thoughts from where I was. The last time she had seen Bella was right after Bella had been dug up. Though she had gotten over the initial shock of seeing Bella's dead body being dug out of the ground, the image still burned into her mind like a scar. It had haunted her for the past eight hours. Even after being told that Bella was back, she had been worried that Bella would still look the same while sleeping. Seeing Bella looking out the back window had really put her mind at ease now. For that, I was glad.

"Put your seat belt on.", I told her as I wrapped the blankets around her shoulders again. She obeyed. I handed her the bag that contained the burgers. It now contained three servings of fries. In the front seat's cupholders there were two hot chocolates and a Coke. Alice handed one of the hot chocolates to me, foreseeing my request for it. I handed the hot chocolate to her. It was still hot, yet not so hot that it would immediately burn her tongue. The heat seemed to burn my hand, but that was only because I had no body heat whatsoever.

"Thanks", she said, smiling. She began to take a few small sips, testing it.

As Bella drank the hot chocolate, I listened carefully to the thoughts of my family in the other car. Why had they come with us? Was there something important they wanted to tell us? The first thought I heard was Emmett's. Of course it was Emmett's. Emmett always had the loudest thoughts, and those loud thoughts usually ended up being spoken aloud. Right now, he was entertaining (or attempting to entertain) the car's passengers with a number of unbelievably raunchy jokes.

Moving on, I could tell that Jasper was worried about Alice. He wasn't sure if Alice was with us or if she was off on her own. He was worrying about what might happen if she was caught by the Denali coven. Apparently, she'd shared at least part of her vision with Jasper. At the very least, she had told him what would happen if she stayed behind. The idea of Alice being hurt in any way set Jasper's nerves on edge. I didn't blame him.

_Give me some signal that she's with you._, he thought. _I know you're listening to us, Edward. I know you're listening to all of us right now. Please, just have Alice give me some sign that she's all right._

"Jasper's really worried about you.", I told Alice. "He wants some sign that you're all right." Nodding, Alice rolled down the window, stuck her hand out, and gave a thumbs-up. Jasper's thoughts calmed down. "Okay, he saw you.", I told her after about a minute. She pulled her hand inside.

"Love ya, Jazz!" , she shouted before closing the window.

"I love you too, Alice.", I heard Jasper reply from the other car.

I next turned my attention to Carlisle, who was driving. Apparently, he had tried to convince Irina, Tanya, Kate, Carmen, and Elazar to call of the chase about eighty-seven times. Each time, one of them had reminded Carlisle of the deal and refused to believe that the werewolves had not been sent. Several times, Carlisle was accused of betraying our kind or betraying the secret. A few times, Irina had threatened to go to the Volturi. Kate and Tanya usually tried to talk Irina out of this idea, since going to the Volturi usually meant death for those who were complained against. Still, the threat hung in the air like the blade of a guillotine, with all around it uncertain as to whether or not it would drop.

I could see the memories playing clearly through Carlisle's head.

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_Jasper had been pacing the floor the whole time, worrying about Alice. At times, he seemed to be frantic._ _"Perhaps I should go find Alice.", he told Carlisle. "I'll happily travel with her, but I can't just stay here wondering if she's been captured!" Jasper must have told Carlisle about the vision. Either that or Alice had found time to tell him before she alerted me. The atmosphere in the room was so tense, it seemed almost tangible. Esme was also pacing and worried, but her worries also included Bella. Finally, Emmett stood up._

"_This is Bullshit!", Emmett yelled. "Bella would be a lot safer with all of us protecting her than she would with just two of us protecting her. There are five of the Denali coven and only two Cullens protecting Bella. If they find her, it's not going to be much of a fair fight!"_

It was probably Alice, then, who told them. Jasper only had eyes for Alice, and he was quite uncomfortable with the fact that Alice was a target in all of this. I could hear Alice in the front seat right now going over how many times she'd assured Jasper that she'd be fine. It was eight.

_Carlisle did not agree with this idea. He had insisted that there was another way to handle this besides fighting. Esme had reprimanded Emmett for his use of language, but agreed with the idea nonetheless. She told Carlisle she had to do whatever it took to make sure Bella didn't end up in a grave again. Jasper, eager to find Alice, agreed with Emmett. Rosalie, however, disagreed. She didn't voice her opinions as to why (and I couldn't read her mind through Carlisle's thoughts), but she insisted that it was a bad idea. In the end, the vote was 3-2. _

Curious, I focused on Rosalie's thoughts. Usually, these were pretty boring. It was always about her looks, her charm, Emmett, the baby she never had, and how much she _wanted_ to have a baby with Emmett. She always thought he'd make the world's best father. Upon hearing some of the jokes Emmett was telling to the car's other passengers, I had to disagree. This time, though, it was far more sinister.

_Why are we even doing this for her? For all we know, she could be plotting against us with those dogs! Well, she can't plot against us now! Still, I don't see why we should even care if she's dead and gone. I mean, she's a human! She could have ruined our secret and brought the Volturi after all of us! I don't care what Edward sees in her, no blabbermouth little _human_ is worth all this!_

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The disgust at which she thought the word "human" made me really mad. To Rose, Bella was worth no more than a bug on the wall. I felt my hands clench into fists. Rose could never understand the love that existed between Bella and I. Until she dropped her vain, selfish attitude and realized that the whole world didn't revolve around her, she would never understand how anyone could love someone as much as I loved Bella. Rose could never understand now a simple thing like watching the love of your life sleep soundly, lost in hidden dreams could become the one thing that keeps you going as you say goodnight. She couldn't possibly know the joy that comes from pure, unselfish love.

I didn't even notice I was growling until Bella's voice shook me out of my angry thought tirade. Her beautiful chocolate-brown eyes stared up at me in shock. A french fry was stuck mid-bite in her mouth. She looked absolutely adorable.

"What's wrong, Edward?", she asked. In her mind, I could see all the possibilities swimming through her head as to why I could be growling. She wondered if the Denali coven was close by. She wondered if maybe someone else was threatening to hurt her. She wondered if maybe someone was thinking something bad about me, or if there was a runaway fugitive nearby. She wondered if maybe Laurent had faked his own death. The most pressing thing on her mind, however, was whether or not this new development would mean we had to separate again. I placed my hand gently on her shoulder.

"Nothing's wrong." I told her. "It's just Rosalie being her usual selfish self. It's nothing to worry about." Bella wasn't convinced. I tried to reassure her with a smile, but it didn't work.

_It doesn't reach his eyes._, Bella noted. _Something is wrong. _

"Bad news.", Alice informed us from the front seat of the car. "The Denali coven have found out we're not at our house. Irina convinced the others to split up and search for her. Tanya, Kate, Carmen, and Elazar don't believe this is a matter that should involve the Volturi, but that's exactly what Irina plans to do. She's on her way to Italy as we speak."

This was bad. This was very bad. With Demetri tracking us, there was no way we would be able to hide Bella from them. Now, especially, Bella was in incredible danger. Demetri could track the tenor of her thoughts across immense distances, finding her with no problem at all. Normally, I wouldn't be so worried about Demetri attacking Bella, because Bella had her natural mental defense, the shield that kept me (and presumably other mind-readers like me) out of her head. Now, however, Bella's mind was an open book. She was just as venerable to being tracked or having her mind read than anyone else! The phrase be careful what you wish for suddenly came to mind. My desire to hear Bella thoughts had become reality, yet it now put Bella in mortal danger.

"So, we definately need to stay away from Italy?", Bella asked. I realized I hadn't exactly explained the Volturi's purpose when I last brought up the subject. I had only explained that you didn't mess with them. I shook my head.

"It's worse than that.", I told her. "The Volturi's job is to make sure that humans don't know about vampires. Showing a human what a vampire can do is akin to messing with them." I held her close as I said this. She was more precious to me than anything else, and I would do everything possible to protect her. "Don't worry, Bella. I won't let them hurt you. I'll keep you safe if it's the last thing I do." Her face twisted into a mask of worry. I realized, though, that she wasn't at all worried about what would happen to her if the Volturi found her. It was _me_ she was worried about! She was frantic with worry over what would happen to me! Already, I could see her making plans in her head to provoke the Volturi if anything happened to me. I was sure Alice could see that, too.

"Bella!", I begged, "don't. I don't care if I make it out of this or not. What I care about is you. Please don't do that." I was desperate to keep her alive now, and I would do anything to make sure she wasn't mudered again. Suddenly, I remembered Bella's words from our last Volturi talk. _If something happened to you, would you want me to go off myself? _I hadn't understood at the time how it could be the same thing. Now, I realized how much my plans to join her had upset her. I realized why she had felt the horror she did at the thought.

Suddenly, new images began to flood my mind. I saw Bella, curled into a ball and crying. Her hands felt as if they were turning blue with cold. There was a terrible pain in her chest, as if a giant chasm had opened up in it. There was a lonliness and a longing on her face that I had never seen before. I could see her trudging through each passing day, trying very hard not to think of me, trying to keep her painful memories of me hidden.

It was a terrible thing to see. I pulled her into my arms, kissing her gently on the head. What had I done to her? What kind of terrible and heartless atrocity would do this to her? I didn't deserve for her to love me, after all of that. I didn't deserve for her to ever want to see me again. I could probably be kicked out of hell itself for hurting Bella like this. Still, I couldn't let her hurt anymore. She looked up into my eyes, pleading. _Please don't let them hurt you_, she thought. _I'd rather die than lose you again_. I sighed.

"I promise, Bella. I will find a way to keep you safe. Don't worry about me, okay?". Bella was still worrying.

For the next few hours, I sat there trying to figure out some plan to keep Bella safe from the Volturi. Alice looked ahead to see if they would work. Each and every one of them ended in failure. Hiding Bella from the Volturi failed miserably every single time, no matter how I tried to pull it off. Telling the Volturi I had already gotten her didn't work either. They saw right through it. Fighting the Volturi ended in a loss of Bella, myself, and half my family. For each and every plan, the Volturi would find Bella and kill her, creating several scenes that sounded horrifyingly similar to her murder in the meadow. Some were even worse. After the first outcome, I shuddered. Bella wrapped her arms around my shoulders and asked me what was wrong.

"That plan isn't going to end well.", I told her. Instantly, she knew what I meant.

"Oh. Well, I'll help. If any more plans end...badly, I could always provide support." I smiled at her. For the next few hours, most of my plans ended no better than the first. After every horrible scene, Bella would brush her fingers across my cheek, trace the veins on my arm. or run her fingers through my hair. After one particularly macabre scene involving disembowelment, Bella leaned over and kissed me. Eventually, those little gestures were the only thing that kept me going. They were a strong reassurance that she was still there, that nothing had really happened to her. They kept me going, knowing I had to do whatever it took to keep her alive.

Finally, Alice delivered the news I had been dreading. "I think there's only one option left.", she said. "I think we have no other choice."

Frantically, I searched for another way, carefully avoiding the plans that had lead to disaster. Each frantic and deperate attempt had a similar outcome to all the others. I didn't want to do it, but now there was truly no other way.

Bella had asked for it many times before I left, but I had always turned her down. I didn't want her to deal with the pain of the transformation and the horror of living life as a monster. Still, it seemed that I had no choice at this point. I already knew that the Volturi would find Bella with Demetri on their side. Even if they couldn't hear Bella, they would only have to track me down to find her. I also knew that I couldn't possibly stand even the thought of losing my beloved Bella again. To see her killed before my eyes in reality would be torture of the most unspeakable kind.

It was decided. If Bella was still willing to go through with it, then I had no choice but to transform her.

"I knew you were going to do that.", Alice told me, interrupting my train of thought. "I picked out this place especially because I knew you were going to do that."

"Do what?", Bella asked. I could see the possibilities running through her mind of places we could be going and things we could be doing. She guessed we were going to Volterra, Italy to stop Irina. I shook my head. She ran over Chicago, England, and somewhere in the Midwest in her mind, but couldn't see what we could be doing there that Alice would have thought to make such a point out of it. It dawned on me that I didn't know where we were going, either. Ever time I tried to get it out of Alice's mind, she started translating various songs into Arabic, Chinese, and Finnish. Right now, it was "Red River Valley".

"Where are we going, anyway?", I asked. I had a feeling that Alice wasn't going to tell me.

"You'll see.", Alice responded. I had a feeling she wasn't going to just any place to have this done. I decided now was the time to ask Bella what her opinion was on this.

"Bella," I began, "I need to ask you something. The situation is getting very dangerous for you. The Volturi are after us and I don't want you to be in mortal danger. All I want is for you to be safe.", I told her. I couldn't bring myself to ask her. This was such a big sacrifice! Plus, it would cause so much pain and suffering for Bella, more than she could ever understand.

"Do you still want to become a vampire?", Alice asked. She could see that I wasn't going to ask it. I couldn't ask Bella to make such a big sacrifice, especially not after what I did to her.

"Of course!", Bella answered. She answered with such cheerfulness, I knew she couldn't understand the pain that was to befall her when this happened. All that was going through her mind right now was being with me forever. She was thinking of hunting with me, running as fast as I could, and possibly discovering a power of her own. She envisioned living with me, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rose. That was Bella, only focused on the positives. Of course, our family would welcome Bella with open arms. There was no question about that. The problem was, Bella wasn't thinking about the consequences of this. She wasn't thinking about the extreme pain that would come from being transformed, nor was she thinking about the thirst for blood that would haunt her for the rest of eternity.

"Are you sure?", I asked. "Have you really fully considered what's going to happen to you if you're transformed?" I could see Bella begin to think about the pain of the transformation. She knew that would last about three days, and she was hoping I would stay by her side while it happened.

"Don't worry.", I told her, "I will."

The bloodthirstiness, though, she underestimated. She couldn't possibly know the thirst that would plague her day in and day out, though she guessed it would be pretty bad. Her mind wandered back to what the place could be again. Now, she guessed it would be somewhere with a lot of animals, far away from human civilization. She began to guess that maybe there was a forest nearby._ Perhaps_, she guessed, _somewhere on the African savannah._ _They have a lot of lions and cheetahs and elephants, and those seemed like pretty good game to hunt._ _Or maybe Southeast Asia, where there are tigers._

"Those," I told her, "are endangered. They would be fun to hunt, but I'm afraid lions and tigers are far too endangered. If we hunted those, we might end up wiping them out."

"Oh.", Bella said. "Well, I still say yes. I'm ready to become a vampire!"

I could hear Emmet laughing and cheering in the other car. Rose was thinking _It's about time!_ Apparently, everybody in the other car could hear our conversation. The spoken part of it, anyway. They all agreed with her decision, and were eager to welcome her into the family. All of them, that is, except Rose. Rose wasn't mad or upset, but she wasn't overjoyed. She simply accepted that if Bella was going to be a vampire, that changed things. She now accepted that Bella could know our secrets, so long as she was going to be one of us.

Though the general mood was that of celebration, inside I was torn. On the one hand, I wanted to keep Bella human forever. I wanted her to be able to have a life, children, and grandchildren. I wanted her to be able to live out a number of human experiences that she would never be able to experience as a vampire. I wanted to _give_ her things, not take them away! On the other hand, though, I had no choice. Her life was in mortal danger. If I didn't transform her now, she would certainly be killed.

My musings were once again interrupted by Bella's beautiful voice. I listened carefully, drinking in every sweet sound and syllable. He voice would sound much different once she had changed, and I couldn't imagine it sounding any more beautiful than it sounded now.

"So, if Laurent actually killed me and I was dead for the past month, what does Charlie think happened to me?"

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**So, what did you think of the chapter? Was is good? Was it bad? What do you think of Bella's decision to go through with the transformation? Where do you think they will go? Please review!**


	8. Charlie's Turn

Chapter 8 - Charlie's Turn

**Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long! There haven't been very many reviews for this. Anyway, there were some** **requests for an update, but there weren't very many. So, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer**: Stephanie Meyer owns all of Twilight.

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One Month Earlier...

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**Charlie's POV****:**

This is the second time this has happened. It is three in the morning and Bella has not come home. A million possibilities are running through my head right now. I've already called Mrs. Stanley and learned that Bella wasn't studying with Jessica like she told me she would. I've also called Billy and learned that Bella wasn't with Jacob today. Jacob went off somewhere with his friends, but Bella wasn't with them. I've called every friend Bella has hoping I could find where my daughter went, but to no avail. Bella is once again missing.

Now, I am pacing the floor, cursing that lousy Edward Cullen and what he's done to my daughter. I'm almost sure this has something to do with him. Worry rips through me as I wonder where Bella could have gone and what state she would be in when she got back. Would she be catatonic again? Would she be empty inside, like she was for the first four months? What if she had run off to L.A. to go see _him_ again?

That thought had no sooner popped into my head when the phone rang. Anxious, I raced to answer it. This had to be about Bella. Shaking, I grab the receiver and hold it to my ear. "Hello?" I ask.

"Chief?", the voice answers, "This is Steve." Steve was one of my best officers on the force. He'd been a police officer in Forks ever since Bella was about two. I heard him take a deep breath on the other end of the phone before continuing. "We found Bella."

Something in his tone of voice told me that Bella wasn't in the best of conditions right now. This sent a fresh wave of worry through my mind. Was Bella catatonic? Or was she simply angry that her plan to meet _him_ had been foiled?

"Is she at the station?", I asked. I had a feeling I was going to dread the answer.

"No," Steve replied, "She's dead." That one I did not see coming. Dead? Bella? Immediately, I both wanted and didn't want to know how it happened. Had she truly been that depressed? Had I really been that blind in assuming she was sensible enough not to do that? Slowly, I ask the one question I was dreading.

"How?"

"She was stabbed.", Steve tells me reluctantly. "In the jugular. She bled to death. I'm sorry."

I hang up the phone. Dead. Bella is dead. I slowly make my way over to the couch and collapse onto it. I sit with my head in my hands. Somehow, this news seems surreal. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the concept that my Bella is never coming home. A million questions begin to race through my mind, questions I had never thought to ask Steve. At the forefront of my mind is the one question I can't believe I didn't ask. _Who did this?_ Who could be so heartless, so cruel as to stab my Bells and leave her to die? _Who_? I pound my fist on the couch cushion. WHO? What kind of heartless bastard would do such a thing?

It isn't until I hear a musical laugh, like the sound of a harp, that I realize I'm crying.

I lift my head and stare in shock. Standing in the middle of the living room is a woman I have never seen in my life. Her skin is pale, smooth, and flawless. Her eyes are crimson and her hair is flaming red. Something about her stance seems wild and animal-like. There is an angry scowl on her face.

"Who the hell are you?', I ask, "and what are you doing in my house?" I hadn't even heard her come in.

"My name is Victoria.", the woman says. Her voice is like honey, sweet and smooth. "You'll have to excuse the actions of my former partner, Laurent. He won't be feeding off of anyone anymore." She laughed. Somehow, this made me very uneasy.

"Feeding?", I asked. This was sick, twisted, and wrong. Was this "Laurent" some kind of cannibal? The woman only laughed more at my expression.

"Yes," she answered. "Feeding. As I said, Laurent won't be doing it anymore." Her tone made it sound like this guy Laurent was now dead. Good. At the very least, this killer paid for his crimes. I don't usually approve of people taking the law into their own hands, but in this case I'll make an exception. We're talking about some kind of sicko who stabbed my little Bella in her neck and somehow (I don't even want to _think_ of how) fed off of her like some kind of animal for slaughter. If looking the other way means her killer can no longer claim another victim, I'm willing to look the other way. I'm not a crooked cop by any means, but this isn't just any murder.

The breaking and entering, though, is another matter. I see no reason why this lady could have knocked on the door like anyone else. I mean, I would have welcomed the news that Bella's murderer is dead. It won't bring her back, but it is a comfort.

"Well, thank you for telling me that.", I say after a long and awkward pause. "I just can't believe she's dead. I mean, I shouldn't have gone fishing this afternoon. I should have stayed with her. After all she's been through, she was probably tired of people leaving her alone. I should have talked to her. I should have..." My ranting is cut short by Victoria's laugh. I honestly don't see what's so funny about this! "What is your problem?", I ask.

"You.", Victoria laughed. "If you think that one little human would have stopped Laurent, then you're delusional!"

Wait a minute? _Human_? What exactly was this "Laurent", if he wasn't human? Some type of animal? Was he one of those oversized bears people have been seeing? What was going on here?

"I came by here simply to show the Cullens how very feeble their attempts were at protecting Bella.", she continued. "Edward, in particular, thought he could chase down the _monster_ that threatened her life. Well, I'm still here!"

She laughed again, as if something about this was incredibly hilarious. This woman was making me feel sick. And what was this about Edward? She said he had actually left to protect her, to stop this sicko from killing my little girl. Put into that context, Edward didn't seem like such an asshole after all. Compared to the other bastards that were threatening her, Edward seemed downright normal.

"Oh, he couldn't live without his precious little human!", Victoria continued, still laughing. The laughter now seemed to have a darker edge to it, more maniacal. "You should have seen how that fool thought he could protect her! He couldn't even _exist_ without his precious human nearby!" She said it as if she were gossiping at a cocktail party, instead of talking about someone who was stopping the killer that took Bella's life!

"What the hell are you talking about?", I finally ask. "Why are you so casual about all this? This is a murder! And what is all this 'human' stuff? Are you out of your goddamn mind? And what do you mean, 'you're still here? Have you been threateneing her? Answer me!" I was starting to wonder whether or not this lady belonged in a mental institution.

She ignored my questions.

"As I said earlier," she continued, "I merely came by to show the Cullens how..._feeble_...their attempts were."

"They're back?", I asked. As much pain as he put her through, I know Bella would have been elated to hear that Edward was in town again. Upon hearing why he had left in the first place, I had started to see him in a whole new light. If only it could have been yesterday or the day before when they're decided to come back. Bella would have been so happy to see him.

Victoria laughed once more, but said nothing. Instead, she slid into a crouch, like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. I stared, amazed. Now I was almost certain this woman belonged in the mental hospital.

Before I knew what was happening, burning flames began to sear at my throat. Blood came gushing out of the gaping wound, straight into the mouth of the mysterious woman. Finally, everything went black.

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**Hey everybody! Sorry I took so long. I was really busy. Anyway, I know you guys have been waiting a really long time for an update on this (and this chapter is disappointingly short), so I decided to include an extra chapter to this update. So, please R&R and enjoy your next chapter!**


	9. Arrival

Chapter 9 - Arrival

**Hey everybody! This is a bonus chapter since I took so long to update last time. Really sorry! Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer**: Stephanie Meyer owns all of the Twilight series and their wonderful characters and plotlines. I'm just fanficcing!

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**Edward's POV**:

"I still can't see anything!", Alice groaned.

Alice had been searching the future for half an hour trying to find some reference as to what Charlie thought had happened to Bella. Jasper had switched cars and taken over driving, as searching the future took all of Alice's concentration. Right now, however, she seemed quite annoyed by her lack of insight. Every time she searched, all that came up was darkness. It was as if he was unsearchable, or as if there were no future to search.

A horrible thought crossed my mind. What if there was to future to read because Charlie was...no, it couldn't be. That foul bitch Victoria had gotten her revenge. What could she possibly want with Charlie? Whatever it was, I wasn't going to tell Bella. Not until I was entirely sure. It was entirely possible that this was some genetic thing, possibly related to Bella's mind being unreadable. I wasn't going to upset my precious angel needlessly. This was only a hunch, after all.

"Maybe I'll look at other people's futures.", Alice decided. "There's gotta be _someone_ in Forks who think they know what's going on!" Jasper smiled. He was simply glad to be with Alice again. He didn't have any more of an idea as to where we were going than we did, but Alice kept giving him directions as to where to go.

My focus turned to the beautiful treasure sitting right beside me. Her head was resting on my shoulder. She was deep in thought, worrying about Charlie, Renee, Angela, and Ben. She was worrying about how they reacted to the news that she was dead, and how they were doing now. That was Bella. She was always worrying about other people.

"Are you all right?", I asked her softly. I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead gently.

"Yeah, I'm fine.", she replied. "I'm just a little worried about Charlie and Renee, you know? They must have been pretty upset by my disappearing like that. Charlie had specifically told me not to go hiking, too. There were these huge bears around." This was news to me. It also worried me.

"Huge bears?", I asked. I specifically remember asking Bella not to do anything reckless. I had told her it was for Charlie, but it was really mostly for her. I couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt. Of course, what she had been attacked by was far worse than any bear. I lead my mind away from such painful thoughts, focusing instead on the beautiful and healthy girl beside me.

"Yeah, huge bears.", Bella admitted sheepishly. Her cheeks blushed a breathtaking scarlet. "There were reports of these bears that were abnormally huge. I wasn't going to look for them, or anything." She added the last part on after seeing my worried expression. "I was actually looking for our meadow."

She struggled to keep the memories of her last confrontation with Laurent from her mind, but memories of pain are very hard to simply hide away. Despite her best efforts, memories of that conversation between her and Laurent slipped through, including the searing pain at the end. The thought of anyone hurting Bella that way made me furious. Jasper gave me an alarmed look and I felt the anger instantly dissipate.

"What?", asked Alice. "What am I missing here?" She stared from Jasper to me, than back to Jasper. Bella blushed, and Alice looked questioningly at Bella for some clue as to what was going on.

"Sorry.", Bella apologized. Her cheeks were blushing as red as an apple. I was going to miss that.

"It's not your fault.", I told her. "It's mine. I never should have left you alone to deal with all that. If I had even the slightest idea, Bella, I would have rushed to your side as fast as the nearest airplane, no, the nearest Concord would have been able to take me. That is no excuse, of course. Leaving you alone and unprotected to deal with Victoria and Laurent, that was unforgivable."

"No, it's not.", Bella consoled. "and you didn't know." She ran her fingers through my hair before leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek. "I've already forgiven you." I saw in her mind that she wasn't mad about me leaving her in the path of such danger. Instead, she was upset by the fact that I'd left her at all, whether it was perfectly safe or not. Images began to flash through her mind of being curled up in pain, her hands on her chest, feeling cold as ice, and her chest feeling as if there were an enormous gash there threatening to rip her apart. Seeing my changed expression, she blushed bright red again. _Sorry_, she thought.

"It's not your fault.", I told her. "You don't have to apologize. I promise, I will _never_ hurt you like that again." I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. If only words could describe how precious she was to me, I would tell her every second of every day.

I could tell from her thoughts that she was consoled by this, but not for the right reasons. She thought that the strength and beauty she would gain from her upcoming transformation would make her "interesting enough" for me. She though that if she were as fast, strong, and beautiful as a vampire, she might "deserve" me and perhaps I would love her "again". I shook my head.

"Bella," I told her, taking her firmly by the shoulders, "where in the world would you ever get such ridiculous ideas from?" She looked confused. Her memory drifted back to that day in the woods. The day I told her goodbye. She had believed my lies so sincerely! She had thought it didn't make_ sense_ for me to love her! She actually thought I was too _good_ for her! Really, it was the other way around! It didn't make sense for an angel like _her_ to love a monster like _me_! Her love for me was far more than I deserved! Where did she ever get the idea that it was the other way around?

_You're so perfect and beautiful_, she thought, _and I'm so...plain._

I kissed her gently on the top of her head again. "Bella," I told her, "First of all, you are the most interesting person I have ever met. I have never met anyone, human or vampire, that is anywhere near as fascinating as you are to me. Second of all, you are the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth, and I truly mean that. Third, I find it completely baffling that a sweet, kind, caring, and brave person like you could ever fall in love with a monster like me. Falling in love with you has made me the happiest being in existence, and I wouldn't trade that for anything else."

Her chocolate-brown eyes were brimming over with tears. She stared deeply into my eyes and saw the sincerity of every word I had just said. I wiped away the tears that now spilled out of her eyes and down her soft cheeks. I pulled her close to me, holding my precious and priceless treasure in my arms. In her mind, it clicked. She now knew that I loved her, and that nothing on earth could ever change that. This realization made her happier than she could say, even in her own mind. She thought that I loved her as much as she loved me. I stroked her hair and met her eyes again.

"You compare one small tree to the entire forest.", I told her. She didn't think that was possible. I heard Jasper laugh in the front seat.

"You'd be surprised.", Jasper told me. I realized that he had been sensing all the emotions going on in the back seat. I also noticed that the car had come to a complete stop. We were at a dock in Rio de Janeiro. I suddenly realized where we would be going to transform Bella. It was far away from people, on an island in the Atlantic. Esme's Isle.

Emmett was laughing his ass off. He had tried to get Rosalie to join him in betting how long it would be before Bella and I "scored". Rosalie would have none of it and Carlisle and Esme had given him a very harsh scolding. Esme had warned him to knock off the jokes, innuendo, and graphic references or be left out of any battles that might ensue. Carlisle reminded them that this wasn't a fight yet and that perhaps some agreement could be reached.

_Bella will probably be a vampire by the time the Volturi find us. Seeing as Bella has decided to become a vampire, we really have nothing to hide_., Carlisle thought. He did have a point. Still, it wasn't fair to Bella to give her this cursed half-life.

Alice, Jasper, Bella, and I got out of the car. Of course, I was at her door by the time she had unbuckled her seat belt. She took my hand as we all boarded a small craft docked in the harbor. It was the size of a fishing boat, but it seated the eight of us comfortably. Bella was wondering where we were going. I decided to leave that a surprise. The boat took off for the island.

I reached into my pocket, fingering the small, velvet box inside. I rubbed the box lightly with my thumb, thinking. Alice started jumping up and down, squealing with delight. I shot her a warning glare. I wanted to keep this a secret. Bella looked curiously from me to Alice, then back to me. Like most of the boat's passengers, she was curious as to why Alice was suddenly jumping up and down. I smiled and shook my head. Bella looked so beautifully adorable with that puzzled look on her face, it was hard to keep myself from laughing.

I wanted to give her everything. I wanted Bella to be able to have everything a normal human would be able to have. I wanted her to be able to have a family, kids, and a life with a husband that could fall asleep in her arms each night. She deserved someone soft, warm, and gentle. She deserved someone who didn't have to try very hard not to crush her as they held her. How I wished I could give her all that! Instead, all I could give her was a monster.

Every part of me yearned to hold her close and keep her safe, to wrap my arms around her and never let her go. After seeing what had happened in the meadow, I felt as if I never wanted to let her out of my sight again. I wanted to kiss her forever, to tell her a million time over that I loved her, and to dearly cherish the wonderful treasure whose head was now resting her head on my right shoulder.

Slowly, Bella ran her finger gently down my arm. Lightly, she traced the faint blue lines that used to be working veins. She ran her finger lightly up and down my forearm, from my wrist to the crease of my elbow. It was just the same as she had done that day, the first time we went to our meadow, over a year ago now. I was going to miss how that warm touch felt against my skin. It felt so amazingly pleasant. The sensation of her touch gently gliding over my skin was better than any other I had ever experienced. It made a massage look torturous and uncomfortable by comparison. It made a hot and relaxing bath seem no different than a cold shower. There was a deep love that was echoing in her thoughts and reflecting in her eyes, somehow finding its way through her touch and through my granite-hard skin. She smiled at me, staring into my eyes. Her chocolate-brown eyes were full of nothing but love and happiness at this moment, and it was all I could do not to pull her into my arms and hold her there forever. I leaned forward her lips reached up to meet mine. We kissed. Her heartbeat soared wildly as her hands laced behind my neck. I held her close, cherishing my beautiful angel.

It wasn't until Emmett coughed loudly that I realized we had reached Isle Esme. As we pulled apart, I realized that my entire family was staring at us. Alice, knowing what was coming, had a huge grin on her face. Jasper, sensing our strong emotions, had somewhat of an amused grin on his face. Esme was glad I had finally found my soulmate, and very pleased with how happy Bella made me. Carlisle disapproved of our public displays of affection, but realized that There was only a limited amount of time left before Bella was transformed. Emmett was already drawing conclusions in his head, thinking this kiss was going to lead to "one hell of a wild night". I rolled my eyes and shook my head. For Emmett, it was always about _that_. Rosalie was just waiting for us to get a move on. I glared at her as she led the way to the house. She may not be as nasty as she was before, but I still hadn't forgiven her for her previous attitude towards Bella.

The walk up to the house was long and tedious. Mostly, this was because my family, Bella, and I were all discussing the details of Bella's transformation. This was a subject I had dreaded talking about. If it weren't for the fact that Bella's life was in mortal danger by both the Volturi and the Denalis, I would not be doing this. Still, though, the image of Bella's body being dug out of the ground was far more than I could ever bear to see again. The memory of looking for Bella and finding her grave was an experience that I would never forget. Selfish as it was, I was willing to do anything to make sure that would never happened again.

Bella's transformation was scheduled for the following morning. She decided she wanted to spend one last night with me as a human. Emmett started making assumptions in his head again, though I knew that they were false. Bella wasn't thinking about doing anything like that right now. Right now, despite all the eagerness she had before, she was scared about becoming a vampire.

_I'm not going to back out. I want this. I know I'm nervous, but I want this. It's going to hurt a lot. I know that. It's really going to hurt. Still, I want this. I'm going to be with Edward forever, and I'll be strong and fast and beautiful. I want this._

I pulled her close to me and kissed her on the head. "I will stay by your side the whole time.", I told her. I meant it. In her eyes, though, there were still tiny traces of hidden fear. She hid it well, but I knew she was scared. Quite honestly, I didn't blame her for being scared. This was a huge transformation she was about to go through, and it was going to be very painful. The thought of Bella being in pain made me cringe. Bella gave me a questioning look, and I went back to comforting her. Bella asked me why I had cringed. When I didn't give an immediate answer, Jasper turned around and told her I was worried about her. Apparently, everyone had been listening in to our conversation. Well, what they could hear out of me, anyway.

"It's okay, Edward.", she told me. "I'm going to be all right." _I'm just a little nervous_, she told herself, _but I'm going to be with Edward forever. That's well worth a couple of days of pain, no matter how bad it is._

I held Bella close to my side. I could hardly believe that such a sweet, kind, and loving person could be in love with me! I smiled and ran my fingers gently through her hair, walking her slowly towards the house.

When we reached the house, I realized that now was as good if a time as ever to do what I had planned. I was nervous, yet excited at the prospect. Alice was now jumping up and down quite a bit as she motioned for everyone to follow Bella and I into the living room. Bella looked confused, as did most of my family.

Slowly, with great care, I took the small velvet box out of my pocket. As I got down on one knee, Bella finally realized what was going on. A look of great surprise and happiness spread across her face as she realized what I was doing. With great care, I asked the question that would change the rest of my existence.

"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?"

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**Yay! Another chapter up! I love ending of cliffys! Anyway, I'm going to try to play the review game again. 20 reviews = a new chapter the same day I get the 20****th**** review. I'm at 40 reviews right now, so the next new chapter will go up at 60 reviews. I hope you enjoyed the story!**


	10. Final Night

**Chapter 10 - ****Final Night**

**Disclaimer****:** Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight series. I'm just fanficcing.

**Hey everybody! Sorry about the delay. I've been really busy. Plus, I went back and polished up a few of the older chapters. I eliminated some of the awkward phrasing in the first few chapters and made it better. In addition, I made some changes to chapter 7. It still ends the same way, but it seemed really OOC to have Edward be the one to suggest that Bella should turn into a vampire. Plus, It seemed really OOC for Bella not to be thinking about that. **

**This chapter was originally going to be two separate chapters, Visitors and Final Night. However, parts of Final Night kept working their way into Visitors, so I just combined the two into one big super-long chapter.**

**This chapter is from Bella's POV. It's not permanent, but I think this chapter would be better told through Bella's eyes. I'm also planning on doing a chapter sometime in the future from Victoria's POV. Let me know what you think about that!**

**So, without further ado, I present my next chapter!**

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**Bella's POV****:**

A million thoughts rushed through my mind at once. What would Renee think about me getting married at eighteen? Would she be more upset about me getting married or about me being dead? Wait, there is no way that Renee didn't hear about the whole being dead thing. At the very least, she probably would have been told that I had gone missing. Had she been hurt by that? She probably had. I'd probably really hurt her! And Charlie! What did Charlie think about me being dead or missing? He was probably very upset by that. I wondered, once again, what he thought had happened to me.

Another jarring realization hit me. I would never be able to see Charlie or Renee again. From what I've heard, gaining control over the bloodthirstiness was an acquired skill. I probably wouldn't be able to go near any humans for a while, let alone near Charlie and Renee! I would never be able to tell them that I was okay now. I would never be able to take away the pain I had caused both of them. Never. Even if I _wasn't _about to be transformed into a vampire, there is no way I was going to show up on Charlie's doorstep with all the danger I would bring after me. After what I had put Charlie through, I knew that there was no way in hell he would let me leave if that became a necessity. All the danger I was in right now would end up putting Charlie in danger, too.

Tears slid down my face. Small, gasping sobs began to escape my throat. Edward put the box down and pulled me into his arms. He pulled me close. I wrapped my arms around him and gently laid my head on his shoulder.

"Perhaps I picked a bad time." Edward admitted sheepishly. I suddenly remembered the rest of the Cullens standing behind us. They had just watched me break down and start sobbing after Edward just proposed to me. They must think _that_ was why I was crying! I started to pull away, though it was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

"It's okay, Bella.", Edward whispered. "I understand." I didn't really know why he was whispering. Everyone in the room could hear him. At the moment, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper were all listening to hear any clue as to why I just broke down in tears. I was pretty sure Edward was hearing all their theories right now, and none of those theories probably even came close. Edward nodded. I sighed and let my head rest on his shoulder.

The way Edward was holding me right now, I felt like I never wanted to leave his arms again. I felt like I could stay by his side forever and be the happiest person in the world, human or vampire. The prospect of being with him forever, going where he goes, and not having him worry about crushing me or biting me was one I was very excited about.

Edward shook his head this time. His reluctance to allow this to happen was beginning to show through. I realized he still wished, more than anything, that there was some way to get me through this without changing me into a vampire. He was probably searching for ways right now that would involve me staying human.

"You're absolutely right.", Edward whispered in my ear. Judging by his annoyed tone, I guessed that he hadn't found any solutions that suited his taste. He nodded, an emotionless expression apparent on his face.

Why was my becoming a vampire such a horrible thing? Did he really not want to be with me forever, as I wanted to be with him? Was he only intending to be with me for a couple of decades until I croaked? Tears began to form as I thought this. Edward sighed and placed my hands in his. The small velvet box brushed against my fingertips, along with the beautiful gold ring that answered all of my questions.

Of course Edward wanted me forever. He had just proposed! Not only that, but I was going to become a vampire myself, so this really would be forever. He wouldn't just stay with me until I croaked and then go out an find a new girl. Edward looked horrified at this thought, and that definitely made me feel secure. I was his forever, and he was mine. I was so sure that there was no one in the world that I could ever love as much as I loved Edward. There was no way anyone on earth could love another person as much as I loved Edward. His face lit up as I thought this.

"You're almost right.", Edward told me. He pulled me close, kissing my nose. "There's just one exception." I smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips. He kissed back, lightly stroking my cheek as he did so. His lips moved smoothly along my own. It all felt so natural. Suddenly, I knew my answer. It seemed like I had known it all along. I pulled away gently, ready ti give my answer to his proposal. Edward looked confused. I realized that this was the first time that _I_ was the one to pull away before _he_ was ready to stop.

"Yes.", I told him, sealing the future I had always dreamed of. Perhaps this wasn't the way I'd pictured it, but it was close enough. I know I'd always been brought up to shudder at the idea of marriage before the age of thirty, but something about saying yes to Edward really felt right. After all, I thought, what was marriage other than staying by the one you loved for all eternity? Compared to the thirst for blood that I was probably going to be feeling in a few days, the idea of being "that girl" seemed relatively small in comparison. I honestly didn't want to get any older than 18 anyway, and it seemed very likely that I wasn't going to. Edward cringed, and I realized that this wasn't exactly a pleasant concept for him.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Edward growled, spreading his arms protectively in front of me. Terrified, I began to wonder who was at the door.

"Carlisle! My friend! So good to see you!", an enthusiastic voice boomed from the front door. Peeking under Edward's arms, I could see Carlisle confidently shaking hands with someone I couldn't see. Edward stopped growling, but did not relax his stance. I wondered who was at the door. Carlisle was acting as if nothing was wrong, while Edward was acting as if this new visitor posed a serious threat to my life. I remembered Carlisle's words on the dock, that we had nothing to hide. Suddenly, it clicked.

The Volturi.

They must be the visitors. Carlisle was calm because he thought we had nothing to hide, with my becoming immortal the next morning. Edward was acting protective because he didn't trust them. Edward nodded once.

The threatening visitors entered the room, looking around at the Cullens. Two of the visitors had black hair. The third visitor's hair was snow-white. All three of them had crimson eyes. Their skin looked thin and papery. Perversely, I wondered if it was as hard and granite-like as regular vampire skin. Was it due to age? I was curious. Edward flashed a small smile in my direction and rolled his eyes. The three guests looked around the room. They seemed to be looking for something. I guessed they were looking for me. The smile vanished from Edward's face. Once again, he gave a single nod.

"Well, this is wonderful news!", exclaimed one of the visitors enthusiastically. It was the one who had greeted Carlisle at the door. "It seems that Carlisle has plans to make this human one of us. Congratulations, Bella!" How did he know my name? How did he know about our plans for me to be transformed. The visitor, who had crossed the room in the process of saying this, reached out his hand, expecting a handshake. I looked up at Edward. He nodded stiffly. So, I shook the visitor's hand. His skin was hard, yet it felt brittle. It seemed more like shale than granite.

"Fascinating!", the visitor exclaimed. "Simply fascinating!" I looked up at Edward. He looked pleasantly surprised. The visitor looked baffled. Edward rearranged his features into a solemn mask. I tried to hide a smile. Whatever had just happened, it probably meant I wouldn't be killed. Edward nodded again, but this time he looked concerned about something.

"I wonder...", the visitor mused. "Jane! Alec! Come here, please." Two children entered the room. Once again, Edward was standing protectively in front of me. What was going on now? Who were all these people? I happened to know the Volturi's names were Aro, Caius, and Marcus, but I couldn't guess which was which.

"The one who just shook your hand is Aro.", Edward whispered to me. "The man over in the corner there is Caius, and the one standing next to Carlisle is Marcus." Caius looked as if whatever was happening was not exactly what he had planned. Marcus looked positively bored. "Marcus sees the strength of relationships.", Edward continued, "and he is impressed by the strength of ours." Marcus certainly didn't _look _very impressed. He still looked bored. "Aro can see every thought you've ever had through any kind of physical contact.", Edward explained. Suddenly, I felt a rush of fear. That handshake suddenly seemed like a betrayal. "It seems, however," Edward continued, "that your mind is not as completely open as we thought. Aro can't read it." I breathed a sigh of relief.

Aro entered with two people I presumed to be Jane and Alec. They seemed quite young. Like most vampires, these two had faces that could put a fashion model to shame.

"Don't let that fool you.", Edward growled. "These two are dangerous." Jane gave a twisted smile, as if to confirm this. She stared at me through the gap in Edward's arms. "NO!", Edward shouted, instantly moving between me and Jane. The instant he did, Edward fell to the floor, writhing in pain. No sound escaped from him, but his body twisted on the floor.

"Edward!", I shouted. I was horrified. The writhing stopped. Edward stood up, then stared, horrified, at Jane. I turned to look. Jane was glaring at me. She seemed to be concentrating very hard on something. Was she trying to make me writhe in pain, too? I glanced back at Edward, who was now smiling triumphantly at me. I gave a small smile back.

"Do not feel bad, my dear.", Aro told Jane. "She confounds us all." Alec tried to use whatever gift he had on me, but that didn't do anything, either.

"Alec renders his enemies senseless.", Edward whispered to me. "He makes them unable to see, hear, or feel anything. They are unable to fight back." Alec nodded proudly at this, with a confused look towards me.

"Now, we really must ensure that everyone here stays true to their word.", Aro told Carlisle. "If I simply leave and trust this will be taken care of, you might go back on your word." Aro glared at Edward, and I knew that some kind of plan had just been foiled. The minute the Volturi were no longer a threat, Edward would insist on keeping me human. "However,", Aro continued, "If I stay in the same house with this human all night, we may never find out what her gifts might be." He nodded in my direction. I really didn't want to spend the night in the same house as the Volturi, either.

The thought of spending my final night as a human worrying about whether of not I was going to wake up was terrifying. I'd already been drained once, and it was an experience I did not want to repeat. Edward winced. I shouldn't have thought that. I didn't want to hurt him. _Sorry_, I thought. _I know it's kind of painful for you to think about. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please don't blame yourself for that._ Edward gave me a confused look, but didn't say anything.

"To ensure that you stay true to your word," Aro announced, " we will be back here at noon tomorrow. If Bella is not in the process of transforming by noon tomorrow, she will become sustenance." I shuddered. Edward pulled me close, shielding me from the Volturi.

The Volturi left, leaving the room in dead silence. As soon as the Volturi were a safe distance away, Edward turned around and pulled me gently into his arms. I didn't realize I was crying until he kissed the top of my head. "It's all right.", he murmured softly, "I won't let anyone harm you. You're safe now."

The terrifying image replayed in my mind. Laurent approaching with a hungry look in his eyes, the teeth, the searing pain, the terror. The thought of that happening all over again was horrifying. My whole body began to shake. Edward picked me up and carried me over to the couch. I had tried not to think about it, but now it seemed like a very real possibility that it could happen again. Now, I knew Edward was thinking about it, too. He set me down, keeping his arms tight around me. Grabbing a blanket from the back of the sofa, he wrapped it around me and pulled me close. I lay there with my head on his shoulder for several minutes, trying to calm myself down.

"It's okay, Bella.", Alice told me. "You'll be transformed in time. You'll have a whole future of being married to Edward to look foreword to."

This calmed me down quite a bit. I had almost forgotten about the wedding. Edward and I would be together forever. Even if I had to get..._married_, spending forever by his side was worth it. We would be side-by-side forever, and nothing would tear us apart. Edward flashed my favorite crooked smile.

I wondered how that would be done. There wouldn't be any time tomorrow to get married, and I didn't know how much control I would have after I was transformed. From what I'd seen, control was an acquired skill. It would really ruin the wedding if I killed the minister. Edward's smile faded as I was seized by a sudden horror once again.

I was about to become a monster. I would be the one that would cause unspeakable horror to whatever people I "slipped up" on. I would be no better than Laurent. That thought sickened me.

"The first year will be rough.", Edward told me. "We'll have to stay far away from people for a while. We'll teach you how to control your instincts, to avoid doing anything you will regret later. With time, you will eventually be able to control it." He smiled reassuringly. "Besides," he added, "Emmett can get a license off the Internet. He can do the honors." Somehow, Emmett marrying us didn't seem very official.

Edward laughed. I was still really uneasy about this whole thing, but I didn't really have a choice at this point. It was either be transformed or be eaten. Again. I shuddered at the thought. Being a vampire wouldn't be so bad, anyway. I had an eternity with Edward to look forward to. Suddenly, becoming a vampire didn't seem like such a scary concept. The pain seemed like a small price to pay for spending forever with Edward. The bloodthirstiness was definitely cause for worry, but I wouldn't be alone. I would have to rely on my new family to teach me how to handle that without killing people. Overall, the fact that I would be spending forever with Edward made the whole transformation more that worth it.

"You should probably be getting some rest.", Edward murmured. "You have a big day tomorrow." I hadn't realized how late it had gotten. Sure enough, the sky outside was a deep indigo. I said good-night to everyone. Edward led me through a set of double doors into a spare bedroom.

I took off my shoes and slid under the covers. Edward was sitting in the space next to me, holding a small bag in his hands.

"You haven't eaten anything all day.", Edward pointed out. "I know it won't be necessary after tomorrow, but you should probably eat something." It was at that moment that I suddenly realized how hungry I was. My stomach gave a loud growl. Edward chuckled.

"Thanks.", I told him as I opened the bag. Inside was a sandwich, some potato chips, and a twenty-ounce water (Edward apparently hadn't forgotten about my low tolerance for caffeine). The bread from the sandwich was baked in the shape of a heart, with the words "I love you Bella" baked into the top. I smiled, wondering how in the world Edward had managed to sneak it past me. It was so thoughtful!

"I ordered it from a bakery near where Alice saw us stop for dinner yesterday.", Edward explained. "I called them while you were sleeping the night before and had the writing baked into it. Alice prepared it while you were thinking about my proposal."

Only Alice would be off making a sandwich while I had been contemplating Edward's marriage proposal. She must have known I was going to say yes. Of course, I hadn't been thinking about it in terms of marriage at the time, but there was no way I would have chosen to live my life without Edward. There was simply no way.

It seemed like such a shame to destroy such a beautifully romantic gesture by eating it. I could see that a lot of time and effort went into this.

"Go ahead, Bella.", Edward encouraged. "It will just get moldy and spoiled if you don't eat it." Of course, he was right. The only thing sadder than destroying my romantic gesture would be to watch it get moldy and rot away.

As I ate, another thought came to my mind. How was it that Edward could still read my thoughts, yet Aro couldn't? Aro seemed to be as in the dark as Edward usually was when it came to the contents of my mind, yet Edward could still hear my thoughts loud and clear.

"I don't know." Edward answered. "I'm guessing that whatever usually keeps your mind safe from intruders isn't completely gone. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that you didn't really know the Volturi. Your guess is as good as mine here."

I finished the sandwich and moved on to the chips. There should probably be a set time for me to be transformed tomorrow. If I slept late, that would end in disaster.

"What time did you have in mind?" Edward asked. I thought about it. I should probably put a couple of hours between the time I'm bitten and the time the Volturi show up. I didn't want to give them any excuses in case they planned to show up a little early.

"Alice would have seen it if they did." Edward told me. "At this point, they plan to show up at exactly noon."

Still, it was a good idea to put a couple of hours between the bite and the arrival. The Volturi could change their plans between now and whenever I woke up. It was better to be safe then sorry. Edward nodded in agreement.

"So, what time do you have in mind?", Edward asked again.

"I think 9 am should be a good time.", I told him. "It's early, but not too early."

"9 am, then.", Edward agreed. "I'll wake you up at about eight-thirty." I nodded.

Edward handed me a small bag. It contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, and a small bar of soap. Edward had purchased these for me on our second day on the road. That had been about the time that I'd realized I had left everything behind and wouldn't be able to return for a while.

"Thanks.", I told him. I took the bag and went into the small bathroom that was connected to the room and brushed my teeth. Over the past few days, the only time I'd really had to brush my teeth and wash my face had been right after dinner, usually in rest stops or the bathrooms of fast food restaurants. We hadn't had time to risk staying in hotel rooms. The first few days had been about getting as much distance as possible between me and the Denali coven. After the Volturi came into the picture, it was about getting me to somewhere where I would cause as little damage as possible when I was transformed. Alice told us that the Volturi were very good at tracking people down and would find catch up with us when we stopped.

As I was washing my face, it dawned on me that I had not taken a shower in almost a week. With all that running, there was never time for it. I was about to start the water when I realized that Edward could probably still see every thought that was going through my head. Would it be really uncomfortable for him when images started coming in of me…showering? I mean, I am going to become his wife at some point. Whenever that was probably depended on how soon I could learn to control myself. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to close my eyes while showering.

Fifteen minutes later, I was clean. I felt much calmer now than I did before, even with a large bruise on my elbow, my knee, and my shin. I dried off, changed back into my clothes, and went back out to meet Edward.

"Are you okay?" he asked, surveying my bruises. No doubt he heard me bumping into just about everything in the shower.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told him. "I just thought you might be uncomfortable seeing me in the shower and everything." I blushed. Edward chuckled.

"Yes, I was quite worried for a minute there. Are you sure you're all right?", he asked. I nodded. Edward seemed anxious to change the subject.

"Alice said you might like to wear this.", Edward told me, holding up a pair of pink silk pajamas. I blushed. Alice was probably going to have a field day replacing every item in my wardrobe that I'd had to leave behind. Knowing her, I would probably end up with a lot more clothes than I started out with. Edward chuckled again. Nevertheless, I was very grateful for the pajamas. I changed in the bathroom, folding the old clothes and placing them on the counter. I wasn't really sure what to do with them.

It was 12:30 by the time I turned out the light and crawled into bed. It seemed like a very long day. It was nice to finally sleep in an actual bed. Not that sleeping in Edward's arms with my head on his shoulder hadn't been nice and everything. It had been _very_ nice. Still, it felt good to be able to stretch out and use a pillow. Of course, it wouldn't have been half as wonderful if it weren't for the fact that Edward was still right next to me, holding me close.

As he stroked my hair and gently hummed my lullaby, I gently fell asleep. Right now, even the thought of tomorrow's transformation couldn't phase me.

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**Okay, it took a long time to type that, but I finally finished! So, feel free to review. I'm not going to ask for 20 reviews this time because I never have 20 people reviewing. Can I at least get 10 reviews, though? Please?**


	11. Metamorphosis

Chapter 11 - Metamorphosis

**Hey everybody! I was re-reading my copy of Breaking Dawn and I realized I made a mistake in the early. Carmen, apparently, isn't the one who can make things happen by hoping hard enough. Apparently, that's Siobhan, of the Irish Coven. So, I had to re-write parts of the first few chapters so that the Irish Coven is visiting the Denalis as well as the Olympic Coven. To make things easier, though, the Irish Coven does not become involved in the chase. They see it as none of their business, seeing as the Cullens aren't actually in danger before the Volturi steps in. By that time, they are on their way back to Ireland. You can read the revised edition for all the details.**

**Once again, I'm really sorry for the mix-up.**

**Disclaimer**: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I don't. I'm just playing around with fanfic.

_Dream Sequence_

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**Edward's POV**

_She walked down the aisle, dressed in something that was way too poufy and frilly to have been picked out by her. I couldn't help but smile. She was the most beautiful woman in existence. Bella, my beautiful Bella, was my soon-to-be bride._

_I could see Alice standing as a maid of honor. "It looks like I was right about the dress!", she exclaimed. "It looks perfect on you!"_

_I had to agree, but only because it didn't matter what Bella wore. She still looked beautiful._

_I stood at the altar, gazing adoringly at her. She gazed lovingly at me as she walked down the aisle. In the audience were all her family and friends. She could see Charlie, Renee, Phil, Ben, Angela, Jessica, and Mike. They were all smiling and waving. All, that is, except Jessica and Mike. Jessica looked insanely jealous. Mike looked incredulous. I had to laugh. _

_Upon reaching the end of the aisle, she turned to face me. The look on her face was excited. She was wondering why she had ever not wanted to get married. This was it. This was the big day._

_Emmett was the minister, and he kept making jokes throughout the whole wedding._

"_Are you sure you want to marry this douchebag?", Emmett joked, "'cuz he cheats at arm wrestling. That's the only reason he whupped my ass at it last week. I swear!" I was laughing, as was Bella._

"_Of course I do.", she laughed. "I love him more than words can say." I had an odd grin on my face. Perhaps this was the "hypnotized" look that Alice had commented on. Had Bella seen me looking like this? I wouldn't be surprised if she had. She often made me feel like the luckiest person in the world. Nothing in this whole world could be more precious to me than she was. Never had I felt more human than when I was with her._

_Finally, Emmet announced "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride._

_As she kissed me, I noticed that something was very different. I was seeing the kiss through her eyes. I was hearing every thought that went through her head as she kissed me. I could see that she loved me, every bit as much as I loved her. She wanted to be with me for all eternity, just as much as I wanted to be with her._

I tore myself away from her wonderful dream. It felt weird and somewhat uncomfortable feeling every thought and emotion she had as she kissed me. I focused on her face, so wonderfully beautiful even in slumber.

Over the past couple of hours, I had been worrying incessantly. Of course, I worry about Bella quite often, but this was different. Over the past ten hours, I had been wondering about the wedding. Had Bella agreed to marry me because she loved me? Or because she felt she had no choice? I probably should have picked a better time to propose. Bella seemed to be under the impression that she would be turned out on the streets if she said no. I should have explained to her that she would still be welcome in our home even if she had said no.

Seeing this dream was reassuring. It seemed to show that somewhere in her heart, she still loved me. She still loved me enough to want to marry me. I would have to let her know that she was always welcome in our home, and I would have to do it before the wedding. So long as she loved me, I was the happiest man on earth.

I looked at the small digital clock-radio on the nightstand. 8:26. Sighing, I gently shook her shoulder. The images of her kissing my cheek as I carried her over the threshold slowly began to fade as she sleepily began to wake. Had it really been eight hours since we had said good-night? It hardly seemed like five minutes. I had spent the entire night stroking her hair, holding her close, and watching her dream.

"Is it morning _already_?", she muttered groggily. I couldn't help but think that same thing.

"Unfortunately, it is.", I told her. "Would you like to sleep an extra hour?" The Volturi wouldn't be coming until noon, and her dreams were more tempting than her blood had ever been. Bella, unfortunately, shook her head.

"I don't want to run the risk of becoming a meal again.", she muttered. At the word 'again', my breath caught. Bella was right. The sooner we completed this unfortunate task, the sooner she would be out of danger. I pulled her close to me.

"I will die before I ever let that happen to you again.", I told her. She shuddered.

"That is exactly why I can't take chances with the Volturi.", she stated. Flashbacks flitted quickly through her mind. I could see images of Bella, curled up in a ball and crying. She felt as if she were about to fall apart, splitting at the chest and falling into a million broken pieces. I could see her trying to go through life while keeping her pain hidden and under control. She had gone through the past couple of months simply trying to keep the fact that I was gone hidden in her mind. I could see her collapsing into a heap on the floor, the pain and emptiness too much to bear. I could hear my voice in her head as she headed towards who she headed towards a man she didn't know. A man who she confused for that convicted rapist/muderer that had almost made her his next victim the year before.

At this point, I pulled her close, keeping her safe in my arms. Had she truly been that desperate as to willingly walk into danger? Did she even know of that _monster'_s past? I gently rubbed up and down her arm. "Don't ever do that again.", I whispered, my voice breaking. "Please, Bella. I can't stand the thought of you being hurt. Please."

"I promise.", she whispered. I realized she was crying.

I was responsible for that. I was the bastard that had done that to her, that had caused her so much pain. I had made her cry. Most surprising of all was that after all of this, Bella had a guilty look on _her_ face! As if _she_ had done something wrong!

I did not deserve a woman like this for a wife. Not only had my abandonment resulted in her death, but I had really been hurting her, torturing her, the entire time I was gone. I kissed her head.

"Don't worry.", I told her, my voice breaking. "I will never leave you again." I took her delicate left hand in my right, rubbing my thumb over the intricate ring that now adorned her ring finger. "a life without you is like a life without air. Without you, everything else is pointless. When I left, I did so to protect you. I saw the danger that your associations with me had put you in. I couldn't bear the thought of that happening to you again, although now I realize I was only making matters worse. I thought you were safe in Forks, so safe." At this, I pulled her close to me. "I see now that I was terribly wrong. I left Forks to protect you, yet you were killed because of my thoughtlessness. Because I wasn't there to protect you!" What sick, sick irony. "It's my fault. If I were there, I would have been able to get you far away before Laurent could ever see you."

A soft kiss landed on my cheek. I pulled myself gladly away from my horrible memories to focus on the beautiful treasure that now lay in my arms. She wore a look of deep concern.

"Please don't blame yourself.", she told me. "It's not your fault. It's Laurent's. He's the one who killed me, not you. Laurent is dead now. Please don't go beating yourself up over what happened, okay? I'm not worth all that. It was just an enormous streak of bad luck that the one time I actually find our meadow, Laurent happens to be hunting." I ran my fingers through her soft hair, wondering for the millionth time how I could ever end up with a wonderful woman like her.

How on earth could she ever think she was not worth this? How in the world could she ever think that she was not worth feeling guilty over? I shook my head. Ever since I had seen her on the table in Carlisle's office, I had cherished every second I spent with her. Every single moment, I was immensely thankful for the beautiful angel I had almost lost. With the memories of finding her grave forever burned into my mind, every second with her was a precious and priceless treasure, worth more to me than anything else in the world. Every moment she was in my arms now, I thanked God that I had her back. _How _she could think that she wasn't worth more to me than anything else? Than everything else?

"Do you remember what I told you on your birthday?", I asked her. "When we were watching Romeo and Juliet?" She needed to know how I couldn't live without her. She needed to know how much I truly loved her.

"You weren't seriously considering _doing_ that, were you?", she asked, a note of shock and panic in her voice.

"No.", I answered. "I was absolutely sure. Without you, the only thing to live for was avenging your death. I was planning on joining you very soon after that." I kissed her head. Her wonderful scent was still there, although it was still somewhat buried beneath the smells of whoever's blood she had received.

"And what if you hadn't received the news about my coming back by the time you'd decided to join me?", she asked. That was a horrifying thought. In her mind, I could see that she would have taken the same course of action that Juliet had taken if I had done that. I shuddered. The thought of my Bella being so upset as to take her own life because of my actions made me shudder to my core. Couldn't I do _anything_ right by her?

Slowly, she draped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I kissed her back. She kissed me until I forced myself, unwillingly, to pull away. The searing burn in my throat was now blazing like wildfire, but I didn't really mind in the least. It was a wonderful burn.

All too soon, Alice was standing outside the door.

"It's time.", she announced solemnly. The door opened and the rest of my family came into the room. I could see that the rest of the family had prepared for this moment during the night. Carlisle had obtained some morphine that he believed might help ease the pain. Emmett had been wondering whether or not medicinal marijuana could be considered for that purpose, but Carlisle had said no way. Alice already had a few outfits stockpiled in the living room, and she was planning on shopping for several more after the transformation was complete.

Bella ran her fingers softly through my hair, smiling reassuringly. She could see I was nervous, and I could see that she was nervous. Still, it had to be done at this point. Much as I hated to admit it, it had to be done.

"Just think," she reminded me, "Soon, we will both be immortal. We will be together for the rest of eternity. Plus, I won't be nearly as breakable." I laughed.

"_That_ is a definate plus.", I told her. Perhaps I wouldn't have to worry so much if Bella wasn't so fragile. Never having to lose her was a definate plus as well, though I wondered if she would consider it worth the immortality once she experienced the agonizing thirst that would come with being a newborn.

She kissed me, then lay back down on the bed. Her hands and feet were now flat against the bed and spread slightly apart, in preparation for what was coming. Bella closed her eyes.

"Okay," she whispered, "I'm ready."

Slowly, I took her hand. I bit gently into the wrist, then sealed the venom inside of her. A look of intense pain crossed her face. Carlisle bit into the other wrist. Unwilling to cause Bella pain, but unable to back away now, I repeated the process on her ankles and throat. Her body began to twist and writhe from the pain of the transformation.

Though she didn't scream out loud, her thoughts revealed how much pain she was in. For the first few minutes, I could hear loud shrieks and screams coming from her mind. She tried to hide how much pain she was in, but she couldn't hide it from me. I kissed her cheek, trying to offer whatever comfort I could. Now, though, I had to be careful. With her strength rapidly growing the way it was, a simple embrace could literally snap me in half. Still, I had to comfort her any way I could.

"It's okay.", I murmered, trying to calm her down. "Nobody is going to hurt you now." Seeing Bella writhing in pain was not really what I considered to be okay, but she was out of danger. That was a good thing. As for the pain, I would help her deal with that as best as I could.

After a few minutes, the mental screaming began to fade. It couldn't possibly have finished, yet, could it? Her heart, while trying furiously to beat, wasn't slamming madly in its final throes. The writhing continued, though her mental screams continued to diminish. Finally, I realized what was going on. Her mind was regaining its mental shield. Bella's thoughts were once again a mystery to me. The screams became softer and softer. Finally, they disappeared entirely.

Her heart was pounding like a hammer against her chest, straining to pump what could no longer easily be pumped. I stroked her arm gently. I could feel the skin becoming cooler and firmer beneath my fingers. It was becoming more and more like granite. The transformation was underway.

***

Around 10 a.m., I began to hear footsteps approaching the house. I looked at the clock. Wasn't it a little early for the Volturi to be coming? Perhaps Bella was right about getting the transformation done early. At least this way it was guaranteed that she would live.

As I read the intruder's thoughts, I realized that this was not the Volturi. No, this was one of the wolves. Apparently, a few of them had survived Irina's attack. Now, all of the surviving Quileute wolves were searching for Bella. Somehow, one of the wolves had found his way down here. He had learned about this island from one of the guides on the mainland . After getting a description of this island's inhabitants from the guide, the wolf had decided to search here.

This wolf went by the name of Jacob.

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**All right! I finally got the transformation chapter in! So, once again, sorry about the mix-up. I don't know why I thought it was Carmen who had that ability, but apparently it's Siobhan. :P**


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